Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate Read Online Free

convinced. “Why do you ask?”
    “I ask because I’m going to need help. If the letter is in the Imperial Compound, it’s beyond even your reach. Searching would be both dangerous and time-consuming.”
    “Certainly,” Kanemore agreed. “Yet what’s the alternative?”
    “The ‘help’ I spoke of. We’re going to need several measures of uncooked rice.”
    He frowned. “I know where such can be had. Are you hungry?”
    “No. But I can assure you that my informant is.”
    About an hour later we passed through Rashamon, the southwest gate. There was no one about at this hour. The southwest exit of the city, like the northeast, was not a fortunate direction as the priests often said these were the directions from which both demons and trouble in general could enter the city. I sometimes wondered why anyone bothered to build gates at such places, since it seemed to be asking for trouble, yet I supposed the demands of roads and travelers outweighed the risks. Even so, unlike the Demon Gate to the northeast, the area around Rashamon was mostly deserted. Even the most loyal and hardened
bushi
would not accept a night watch at the Rasha Gate, and it was pretty much left open to the demons and ghosts, and anyone else who cared to use it.
    The bridge I sought was part of a ruined family compound just outside the city proper, now marked by a brokendown wall and the remnants of a garden. In another place I would have thought this the aftermath of a war, but not here. Still, death often led to the abandonment of a home; no doubt this family had transferred their fortunes elsewhere and allowed this place to go to ruin. It was wasteful, but not unusual.
    The compound was still in darkness, but there was a glow in the east; dawn was coming. I hurried through the ruins while Kanemore kept pace with me, his hand on his sword. There were vines growing on the stone bridge on the far side of the garden, but it was still intact and passable, giving an easy path over the wide stream beneath it. Not that crossing the stream was the issue. I pulled out one of the small bags of uncooked rice that Kanemore had supplied and opened it to let the scent drift freely on the night breezes.
    The red lantern appeared almost instantly. It floated over the curve of the bridge as if carried by someone invisible, but that wasn’t really the case—the lantern carried itself. Its one glowing eye opened, and then its mouth.
    I hadn’t spoken to the ghost in some time, and perhaps I was misremembering, but it seemed much bigger than it had been on our last meeting. Still, that wasn’t what caught my immediate attention—it was the creature’s long, pointed teeth.
    Seita did not have teeth . . .
    “Lord Yamada, drop!”
    I didn’t question or hesitate but threw myself flat on the ground, just as the lantern surged forward and its mouth changed into a gaping maw. A shadow loomed over me, and then there was a flash of silver in the poor light. The lantern shrieked and then dissolved in a flare of light as if burning to ashes from within. I looked up to see the neatly sliced-open corpse of a
youkai
lying a few feet away from me. The thing was ugly, even for a monster, and a full eight feet tall, most of that consisting of mouth. The creature already stank like a cesspit, and in another moment it dissolved into black sludge and then vanished. I saw what looked like a scrap of paper fluttering on a weed before it blew away into the darkness.
    Where did the thing go?
    I didn’t have time to ponder; another lantern appeared on the bridge, and Kanemore made ready, but I got to my feet quickly.
    “Stop. It’s all right.”
    And so it was. Seita came gliding over the bridge, with his one eye cautiously watching the pair of us. Now I recognized the tear in the paper near his base and his generally tatty appearance; things that had been missing from the imposter’s disguise.
    “Thank you for ridding me of that unpleasant fellow,” he said, “but don’t