33 Surface Tension

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 4]

  Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider, Retribution, Eviscerate]

  [Kegare: 60%]

  [Status: Drowning]

  [Current Location: Ocean Floor]

  ---

  Kazuki began to feel the cold and horrifying pressure and a thunderous pulse that echoed in his skull and he remembered - he was at the bottom of the sea. He wasn't dead. Just about to die.

  Then, out of the void, a familiar interface:

  [Game Pause]

  [Level Up: 5]

  [New Waza Unlocked: Adaptive Survival]

  [Activate? Y/N]

  He blinked. Time was frozen. The cold and pressure gone - suspended - and somehow the dark water of the sea at night had become low resolution and monochrome. Kazuki, staring at this message, was in a place outside of the world. How long could he stay here?

  Kazuki looked around and saw something - a small dark shape in the water caught in mid-decent in the frozen time. It was a black cat. Kuro! And Fleet! Where was Fleet?! Somewhere behind him?

  He checked his kegare. It was up dramatically; a last burst before death?

  Kazuki clenched his teeth. Yes! Activate!

  The UI instantly flared, rippling with arcs of red warning text:

  [Adaptive Survival: Triggering Kegare Burn]

  [Kegare: 60% → 59%]

  [download]

  [Use code with caution.]

  [Transmuting body… stand by…]

  The UI screen disappeared. Kazuki was back in the deep sea and it was cold again but just for a moment before a surge of heat swarmed through Kazuki’s veins. He twisted in the crushing water, a deep groan forced from his throat as bones and flesh bent to new shapes. For a moment, his arms and legs seized with pain. Then the blackness behind his eyes lit up with a swirl of phosphorescent color.

  He felt the transformation in every cell: his ribcage flexing, lungs narrowing, gills or something close to them forming along his sides. The flesh of his arms and torso took on a dark, slate-gray hue, thin, manta-like membranes growing from his flanks down to his wrists. Long fins unfurled, wide and soft in the water. His eyes glowed with a pale, ghostly light.

  Water no longer choked him. He could draw breath—sort of. His chest rose and fell in a new, unfamiliar rhythm, pulling oxygen from the surrounding sea.

  Kazuki began to swim. *Is this how Karaba feels? When he flies?*

  A new line of text seared across his vision - a notification:

  [Warning: Kegare Sustaining Waza – High Burn Rate]

  [Kegare: 59% → 55%]

  It was draining him, second by second. That creeping darkness inside him was fueling this shape. Kazuki remembered the Dark Rider - how he merged with Fleet to become the Golden Fox. They ran out of power halfway across a leap between trees and nearly fell to their deaths. This was the same - if it hits zero, we're going to really drown.

  Kazuki forced away the panic. He angled his wings, feeling out the water’s currents. Yes—he could move. Instinctively he swam forward in a swift, fluid stroke. *I can do this.*

  A flicker to his left: Kuro’s limp shape, sinking deeper. Beyond her, Fleet’s small figure—struggling, unconscious or nearly so. Kazuki’s heart lurched. In a quick motion, he swept downward, hooking one arm—detached from the wing-like manta fins that had grown from his back—around Kuro’s small cat body. She was a helpless dark swirl. As he pulled her close, her golden eyes flickered open for a moment, catching a glimpse of Kazuki's glowing eyes.

  Turning, he reached for Fleet. The kitsune had half-shifted into a boy, arms flailing weakly in the water. Kazuki caught him by the wrist and pulled him close. Fleet’s eyes cracked open a sliver in recognition, but his mouth was parted in silent panic—he had no air left.

  With both of them in his grasp, Kazuki turned his gaze upward. Far above, the ocean surface was nothing but inky black. Yet, in the far distance, a faint glow hinted at sunrise.

  He kicked and soared upward, wings undulating in great arcs.

  A deep reverberation shuddered through the water: the Umibozu’s monstrous chanting. Another wave of it rippled outward, rattling his bones and stirring the ocean floor.

  NAMU AMIDA BUTSU NAMU AMIDA BU -- WHY?

  That last single syllable rolled across the depths in a devastating sub-bass murmur. Kazuki clutched Fleet and Kuro tighter. *I don’t have time for your questions.*

  He angled his wings again and powered upward with frantic speed, Kegare draining in a steady trickle:

  [Kegare: 55% → 51% → 48%]

  A savage will to survive—pushed him on.

  A moving shape loomed in the darkness behind him. The Umibozu’s enormous head, eyes burning with that sickly green light. Its vast body stirred the currents so violently that Kazuki and his friends were pushed forward by the pressure of his bulk moving towards them.

  The great yokai extended a massive arm, the hand shaped like a webbed temple seal. So large and so fast! Kazuki’s entire body tensed. *No.*

  He folded his wings in front of himself and swam left, pushing out a powerful stroke that propelled them away from the giant’s reach. He felt the water drag, Fleet’s unconscious weight tugging at his hold, but he refused to let go.

  Above them, the monstrous hand curled. Its chanting rumbled, stirring a vortex of water.

  Kazuki’s eyes flicked to the UI notification:

  [Adaptive Survival - Depth Resist + Undersea Mobility]

  [Kegare: 48% → 40%]

  He surged forward, hugging Kuro and Fleet closer, ignoring the spikes of pain in his shoulders. They were so close. The water above looked less black, more smoky gray. Dawn was up there, somewhere, and land.

  The ocean churned again, and a pair of colossal, sea-stained stone fingers raked through the water. Kazuki twisted sideways to avoid them. The Umibozu's knuckles grazed his left wing, and Kazuki felt the fin membrane tear. A jolt of agony shot up his arm. Blood—or the dark fluid that now served as his blood—flowed out into the sea-water.

  [Kegare: 40% → 35%]

  [Warning: Tissue Damage Detected]

  His new wing flapped unevenly, sending him into a lopsided spin. His vision tunneled for a terrifying second. Kazuki clenched his teeth, his transformed hands trembling uncontrollably, gripping Kuro and Fleet. He was so close!

  He flung his good wing forward and shot upward again out of the surf. Fleet’s head lolled against Kazuki’s shoulder, ears flattened. Kuro’s small cat body was limp in his other arm.

  The ocean brightened. He felt a faint tingle—a shift from night to day.

  Yet the chanting grew louder, a final crescendo:

  NAMU AMIDA BUTSU

  WHY?

  WHY?

  The Umibozu’s voice rolled across the sea. Kazuki swam, fought with every ounce of will. The surface was so near; he could see ribbons of morning light, dancing.

  A sudden roar behind him—like an avalanche underwater. The Umibozu’s enormous hand was lunging for them, fingers outstretched. The tips brushed Kazuki’s torn wing.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  [Kegare: 35% → 28%]

  But then, in one final, desperate push, fueled by the sight of a nearby beach and the dead weight of his friends, Kazuki flapped that wounded wing as best he could, ignoring the agony.

  Faster, faster, faster…

  Salt spray and the pale gold of dawn assaulted Kazuki’s senses all at once. Kuro’s body shook against him, sputtering. Fleet stirred with a gasp, ears flicking water away. His eyes found Kazuki's alien, exhausted face

  Behind them, the ocean surface heaved. The Umibozu rose from the sea like a living island, its massive shoulders streaming brine, its chanting relentless and urgent. The waves pitched.

  “Hold on!” Kazuki shouted.

  He forced his fins into a short, forward stroke. The ocean battered them with each wave, but he refused to give up. Land was visible about a hundred meters away, a strip of pale sand and rocky shoreline that curved into a quiet cove.

  The Umibozu advanced, each step sending shockwaves that churned the water into towering swells. Its massive features were stone - as impassive and implacable as the dharma, chanting in a language older than time.

  Kazuki felt the next wave crest behind him like a writhing serpent. He timed a breath, locked his arms around Fleet and Kuro, and let that wave sweep them forward. They tumbled, nearly losing each other, but the force propelled them closer to the beach.

  Ten meters to go. Another wave hammered them propelled by the Umibozu itself striding towards them, rising higher and higher out of the water as it approached the shore. Five meters. Another. Finally, with a last jolt, Kazuki’s knees hit the sandy bottom. He stumbled, half-crawled, half-dragged his companions. Water receded around his thighs.

  They collapsed onto the wet shore, coughing up salt water, panting. Kuro hacked out a tiny mewl, blinking as she regained consciousness. Fleet groaned, shivering, pushing himself weakly onto his elbows.

  Kazuki turned to look behind them: the Umibozu stood waist-deep in the ocean, roiling waves around its waist. Dawn light broke across the horizon, faint gold creeping over the water’s surface. The giant’s chanting finally faltered.

  There was a long moment of silence, where even the gulls stopped crying and only the surf could be heard. Then, all at once, the Umibozu dissolved—tendrils of black mist unraveling from its body. The ocean where it had been standing stilled, and then absorbed its essence, returning it to the deep.

  Kazuki collapsed face-first on the sand. His manta-ray wings quivered violently and began to slough away, shedding like shadowy skin The UI flared:

  [Adaptive Survival Deactivated]

  [Kegare: 28% → 20% → 10%…8%…5%]

  [Warning: Kegare Depleted - Waza Shutdown.]

  His body shifted back to human form, choking out a final mouthful of saltwater. His hands shook. All three of them lay there, battered, soaked, stunned. A pale sunrise cast fragile light on the empty beach. A faint breeze ruffled the coastal grasses along the shore, and gulls circled overhead, their cries sharp.

  Kazuki struggled to his feet, noticing how his arms were still dotted with faint black veins—remnants of the Kegare he’d burned through. He felt hollowed out.

  Fleet stirred, pushing himself up fully now.“Kazuki,” he rasped, voice raw from salt and fear. “We… made it?”

  Kazuki nodded, swallowing past the salt in his throat. “Yeah,” he said, although every muscle ached. “I think so.”

  Kuro, curled in a small black-furred ball, slowly uncoiled and stood, shifting into her human form with a weary sigh. Her hair hung in thick wet strands, eyes haunted. Her black dress was soaked and clung to her body. She took in the deserted stretch of coastline, the calm waves. “Where are we?” she managed.

  Kazuki gazed around. There was nothing—no boat, no fishing huts, no sign of life. The beach extended in a crescent, framed by dark, forested hills. “I have no idea.”

  Despite not knowing, it felt like a gift to be alive. All of them. It was a gift.

  They found themselves limping inland, away from the shore, leaning on each other for support. The forest grew thick just beyond the sand, a barrier of old pines and twisted oaks with undergrowth creeping at their feet as they walked. The morning sun warmed their wet salty clothes.

  An hour passed. They left behind the sound of the ocean, pressing through thick brush until the ground started to level out.

  Then Kazuki saw a narrow dirt path, old but definitely man-made, leading deeper between the trees.

  “Look,” he said, gesturing.

  Kuro exhaled with relief. “Finally.”

  Fleet sniffed the air. “No fires. This place smells… empty.”

  They trudged along that path until eventually, the dense forest thinned, revealing a valley. In the valley’s center stood… a town.

  At first it looked like many small villages scattered throughout the Yokai Realm: wooden houses with curved eaves, narrow lanes, and a few slender pagodas. But something was off. The rooftops were covered in thick moss. Weeds and vines spilled out of paneless windows. Broken gates and fences.

  This place looked older than anything Kazuki had seen, yet it also reminded him of Tashirojima’s neglected corners—the hush of abandonment.

  Kazuki and Fleet exchanged glances and even Kuro was stepping carefully. Together, they crossed an unstable wooden footbridge into the town. They passed houses with their doors hanging ajar, tatami floors broken and decayed, hearths full of cold ash.

  Kuro ran a finger along a wooden post outside one house. “This is… old. Easily a hundred years or more since anyone lived here.”

  Fleet’s eyes flicked left and right, fox ears alert. “But… no yokai or humans.”

  Kazuki looked down the lonely street. He didn't like it but they needed rest, food, and shelter.

  “We should find a place to stop,” he said softly.

  They settled on a large house near the town’s center—two stories with a spacious tatami room that had been protected from the elements by thick walls. The wooden porch sagged, but the roof seemed intact. Weeds sprouted in the courtyard, but there was enough open space to gather firewood.

  Kazuki tested the sliding door. It grated open, revealing a dark interior. Dust motes danced in the stale air. Flecks of old plaster had peeled off the walls. Broken furniture cluttered the corners.

  Fleet wrinkled his nose. “Musty.”

  Kuro sniffed. “Better than nothing.”

  Kazuki ventured inside. “Let’s see if we can start a fire.”

  Amid the toppled shelves and disintegrating tatami, he found a small stone fireplace in an interior room. Possibly the remains of a cooking hearth. He gathered broken chair legs, splintered beams—anything dry enough to burn.

  Soon, a small flame crackled, bathing the immediate space in flickering orange light. Warmth seeped into Kazuki’s bones. He crouched by the hearth, hands still trembling slightly from fatigue.

  Across the room, Kuro rummaged through a shattered chest, searching out of curiosity. It held only moth-eaten blankets and bits of rotted cloth.

  Fleet, meanwhile, had quietly slipped outside. He returned half an hour later in his fox form, muzzle stained and triumphant. He dropped a limp rabbit near Kazuki’s feet.

  “Dinner,” he declared, shifting back to boyish shape.

  The rabbit’s eyes were wide and glassy, a fresh kill. “I, uh… I don’t really know how to cook that…”

  Kuro, also in human form, sauntered up, carrying two dead mice by their tails and swinging them gently back and forth. “Cooking?” she asked, sneering.

  Kazuki was starving, but raw, bloodied fur wasn't what he had in mind.

  Kuro and Fleet, exchanging glances then shrugged in unison. In a moment, they both shifted—Fleet to a red fox, Kuro to a black cat. The two animals trotted off to the corner to devour their catches, leaving Kazuki alone with the fire and his roiling stomach.

  He poked at the flames of the small fire with a broken chair leg. “I guess I’ll just… not eat tonight.”

  Eventually, with night falling outside, the three of them collapsed in utter exhaustion around the dying embers. Sleep overcame them quickly.

  Kazuki woke to a sharp nudge. Kuro’s human shape hovered over him, eyes reflecting golden and wide with alarm. “Shhh,” she hissed, pressing a finger to her lips.

  Immediately, Kazuki’s pulse spiked. He sat up, blinking in the dark. The last coals of the fire glowed faintly. Fleet dozed nearby, half-buried under blanket scraps.

  “What is it?” Kazuki whispered.

  “I heard… something.”

  Kazuki listened, heart pounding. But the house was silent.

  “I don’t hear anything.”

  Kuro frowned.

  Kazuki drifted off to sleep again. Then, suddenlty if felt like, he was being woken up - this time more urgently. Fleet and Kuro both shook him. “Kazuki—wake up!” Fleet whispered loudly.

  “Wha…?”

  Fleet's eyes darted around the darkness of the room. “I… I can’t smell anything. Where are they?”

  A chill crawled across Kazuki’s skin. He looked around by the faint glow of the embers of their fire. All they could see were the shapes of old furniture—broken chairs, a battered chest, a moldy wardrobe.

  Then Kazuki saw it: a slight movement by the edge of the room. His breath caught. Something had shifted there—an old, three-legged stool that hadn’t been so close to them before.

  He strained his eyes. The stool rocked, just a little, balancing precariously.

  Kazuki and Fleet and kuro inched closer to each other, forming a tight circle, backs to one another. Fleet’s fox ears swivelled, listening intently.

  In the opposite corner, a broken chest of drawers—Kazuki could swear its top drawer was half-open now, like a crooked mouth. And it was… angled toward them?

  Kuro whispered, “Tsukumogami.”

  What?

  The battered chest in the corner scraped along the floorboards. A crooked table behind them hopped once, landing with a soft thud. Kazuki felt old, inhuman eyes focusing on them.

  All around, shapes that should have been lifeless—broom handles leaning against the wall, broken tatami mats underfoot, empty shelves along the plaster—began to twitch.

  Kazuki’s hands drifted toward his two machetes…

  Then the wardrobe next to Kuro gave a low, creaking groan. Its doors swung open slowly—no sign of clothes inside, just darkness. Yet the impression was of eyes. Many, many eyes, watching from the darkness within.

  Slowly, the old items in the room formed a ragged circle around them: chairs with missing legs dragging themselves forward, cupboards whose drawers gaped like silent mouths, a spinning wheel whose spindle glinted in the dim light.

  Outside the house, faint, indistinct shapes pressed against the paper screens of the windows, tools and furniture gathering in the narrow street. The rest of the entire town’s old items had shambled over, drawn by curiosity or resentment, or perhaps just the novelty of living beings after so long. An army of tsukumogami, countless and silent.

  The wardrobe’s doors wobbled, parted further. The spinning wheel lurched closer, scraping the floor. A cracked mirror, fallen from a wall, dragged itself along the tatami, catching stray moonlight in its broken surface.

  The circle of tsukumogami tightened, the air thick with dust and decay.

  Kazuki gripped Fleet’s shoulder with one hand, Kuro’s sleeve with the other, pulling them slightly behind him.

  A dry, whispering sound, like rustling paper, emanated from the looming wardrobe. "O... kairi..."

  Then…

  The wardrobe’s doors slammed shut with a BANG that echoed through the silent town.

  ---

  [Achievement Unlocked: Devil and the Deep Blue Sea]

  [Next Chapter: 34 A Mirror of Loneliness]

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