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“How?” Suki asked. “Wasn’t she supposed to be captured?”

“I don’t know,” Mitsue admitted, staring fixedly at the symbol. “I just… this was a special sign that we used between us. It says that we should meet at our secret training ground.”

“That’s a pretty simple sigil for a message like that,” Harue commented.

“We only met secretly in one place,” Mitsue explained. “So, really, all it says is ‘meet’. And since there is no possibility of her hiding there for however long, she must have left a message for me.”

“She had no way of knowing when you’d show up,” James mused. “But then, how would she know that you would show up?”

“Criminals always return to the scene of the crime,” Harue said blithely.

“You would know.” Mitsue cast a dark glance at the fox-girl.

“I do! I took Criminal Psychology in middle school, so I know it’s a real thing, and not just my personal preference.”

“I… don’t think they offer that course in middle school,” James said.

“Maybe not American middle schools,” Harue gloated. “But we—”

“Regardless,” Mitsue interrupted, getting the conversation back on track. “Even if she had only a small hope that I would come here, a message is a small investment to make. I need to see what she left for me.”

“Unless it’s a trap,” Shugen put in. Mitsue stared daggers at the ogre.”

“I trust my sister,” Mitsue said flatly.

“There are a thousand ways to wring that symbol out of her through magic or torture,” Shugen sneered. “Why set out a guard, when you can scrawl a symbol on the floor and have your enemy deliver himself to you?”

“That… is a point to consider,” Mitsue admitted. “I will be careful, but I have to go and see. Alone.”

“I’ll do a bit of scouting,” Harue offered. “See where people are, check if the map is still up to date, that sort of thing. The rest of you should wait until we get back.”

“Be careful,” Mitsue said. “There are some here who can see spirits, and the Tsukishiro family specialise in wards.”

“Ew. Nasty stuff. I’ll keep an eye out.” Harue faded out of view with a wink.

Mitsue sighed.

“I won’t be long, I promise,” he said. “And it would be best if you waited here, out of sight of the windows.”

Kana frowned. “I do not enjoy waiting,” she stated.

“Don’t worry,” Suki said. “I thought we’d have to wait for nightfall anyway, so I brought snacks!”

*

About half an hour passed uneventfully. Shugen passed the time drawing a formation on the wall that he said would screen them from anyone scrying for them. James thought that he was just showing off for Kana. She seemed to appreciate the fervour, if nothing else.

James mostly passed the time by wondering if he and Suki should find a more private room and… hug. Yes, hug, that was it. They were on a mission, though, and it was probably a bad idea to separate from the rest of the group just to…

From the looks Suki was giving him, he wondered if she was thinking the same thing. It wasn’t the sort of topic he could bring up in front of the demon and the dragon, but didn’t that just mean that he should take her somewhere… private?

Kana ate her snacks, her frown deepening as time went on. That was the main reason James was relieved when Mitsue came back. The only reason, James wasn’t distracted or anything.

The look on Mitsue’s face blew away all of James’s intrusive thoughts.

“You found something?” James asked.

“I did,” Mitsue said heavily.

“What did she say? If, you know, it’s not private,” James backpedalled awkwardly. Mitsue waved off his concern.

“Professor Toei will want to see this,” he said. “He needs to see this.”

“What is it?”

Mitsue sighed and slumped down into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. “Some of it is… not personal, but only of concern to me.”

“You know, we all do care about what happened to your sister,” Suki said.

“I do not. I do not know her.” Kana declared. She stiffened as all the humans in the room turned to glare at her. “What? It’s true!”

“I suppose I should count the blessings I do have,” Mitsue said ruefully. “Thank you.”

“So what happened to her?” James asked.

“Sayuri-nee escaped our pursuers. I thought she was giving herself up for me, but perhaps I was only slowing her down.

“That’s…” Suki started, “That’s good, right? If you both got away.”

“Yes… But she spoke of working with a woman named Kuzumi Reika-san. She says that Kuzumi-san was a friend of Miyamoto Sora-san.”

“The Occult Club president?” James asked. “How would she know that you know—oh.”

“Yes,” Mitsue agreed. “Kuzumi-san is like Sora-san. A fortune-teller of some skill. She convinced my sister to come back to the village.”

“Why?”

“To warn me.” Mitsue grimaced. “Apparently, the barrier logs all attempted traversals, successful or not. Since I am known to the village, it would have recorded my name. The rest of you would have been identified as unknown intruders.”

“But that means they know we’re here,” James said, panic starting to rise. He might be able to fight off any number of ninjas, but Suki was vulnerable. “We have to get moving.”

“Not yet, it depends on how often they check the logs,” Mitsue said. “And this is important, you need to hear it.”

“There’s more?” Suki asked.

“Much. My sister knew that sneaking back in might get her captured, but she risked her life to save me.”

Mitsue sighed. “Again. She assured me that she had a way to avoid capture, and that we’d meet again, but she couldn’t say where or when.”

“More prophecy?” James hazzarded. He was beginning to dislike the idea that everything that happened to him was foreordained.

“Perhaps. More importantly, she also shared the secret that she discovered that got us exiled.”

Mitsue pulled the letter out of an inner pocket of his ninja suit. He showed it to James, who couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It looked Japanese, but the characters were unfamiliar.

“It’s encoded, of course, but look here.” He pointed to a spot on the page that looked… more structured. The characters repeated themselves more often, and they were formatted in some kind of table.

“These are GPS coordinates,” Mitsue explained. “And dates. Hokkaido, two weeks from now. This spot is… somewhere in the Kamchatka peninsula in October. The others are further away, I’d need to look at a map to be sure. Nine locations, all around the world. The dates vary, but around four months between each one.”

“Okay, so what is this?” James asked.

Mitsue took a deep breath. “These are the Black Dragons’ invasion plans.”

“Just this?” Suki objected. “There must be more to their plans than that.”

“Probably,” Mitsue admitted. “But this is the most important part. Professor Toei explained that a seal was preventing Orochi from returning to this world, but it was weakening.”

“Right,” James agreed.

“A Dragon-Godking like Orochi requires a large, powerful portal. It is not just a matter of size; he has so much power that a very special ritual is needed for him to pass through. But other, smaller, portals can now be opened between our two worlds.”

“Professor Toei didn’t mention that,” James said.

Mitsue nodded. “It is something that my sister found out. The Black Dragons are sending communications through these small portals, coordinating with the Empire of Orochi. These locations and dates specify ritual sites. Each ritual will weaken the seal further, until the final ritual opens the portal for Orochi.”

Mitsue tapped a line on the letter. “This says that the grand portal will open in three years… quite close to the Academy. An island, or somewhere in the Sea of Japan.”

James felt himself break into a cold sweat. “So… we have three years to get that robot working? Will that be enough time?”

“I’m afraid not,” Mitsue said, shaking his head. “As well as serving as a part of the greater ritual, each ritual site will also open a lesser portal. These portals will be large enough for Orochi to send one of his generals through.”

“Generals? Who are they?” Kana asked scornfully.

“Professor Toei mentioned them,” Suki replied. “The eight heads of Orochi, the legends said. Each of them was a dragon greater than any that remain on Earth.”

Kana snorted. “I’m sure they will present no challenge,” she said boastfully, but James could hear the doubt in her voice. “Just another step on my path to glory.”

Mitsue shared a concerned glance with James. “The first ritual happens in two weeks,” he said. “We need to warn the professor as soon as we can.”

“We’re not giving up on my shiny thing, are we?” Harue’s voice came out of thin air. “The special compass is pointing to it and all!”

She blinked into existence, waving the mystical device at them. “It sure would be a waste if we had to leave early.”

“We’re not leaving without the power stone,” James said.

“But we have no time to waste,” Mitsue added. “The elders may already know we’re here.”

Harue looked at them both, then shrugged. “Well, there was no sign of alarm when I was there. I found the prison where you said it would be, but the only person there was a ten-year-old boy doing pull-ups.”

“As expected,” Mitsue said. “Imprisonment is rarely used for punishment. If they are holding my sister captive, they would have to make special arrangements.”

“Not sure what those would look like,” Harue said, “But I didn’t see anything that struck me as well guarded. There was a mansion like this one that was lousy with spirit traps.”

“The Tsukishiro family mansion?”

“Yeah. The only place that was guarded from the likes of me was where you said the vault was. That was also where the compass was pointing, if you catch my drift.”

“Yes, of course. It also had human guards?”

“Just like you said it would,” Harue agreed. “I even caught some glimpses of modern security tech—it looked really out of place. Is there a reason they don’t use magical barriers?”

“The protections on the vault are mostly to stop renegades from the village itself,” Mitsue snorted. “Magical protection would do no good if the renegade were of the Tsukishiro clan. The guards will be low-ranking members of the Kurokage clan. Relatives of the Sōshu can be more easily trusted.”

“Imagine trusting your own family members!” Harue giggled. “But how are you guys going to get over there to break the seal and let me in?”

“Simplicity itself,” Kana answered. “I will serve as a distraction and fight the entire village. This will draw off the guards, and you can enter freely.”

“With respect, Great Lady,” Shugen interjected. “These opponents are beneath you. Instead, I have prepared invisibility talismans!”

He pulled out a slip of paper covered with cryptic sigils and attached it to himself. As soon as it was stuck on him, he faded out of view.

“Wow. Um.” Harue sighed. “That’s… I guess… it’s adequate?”

“Lies! My power and skill are unmatched! My invisibility is—Ow! Ow! Ow! By nosbe!”

Harue’s hand had snapped out and grabbed something in the empty air. A different patch of empty air from where Shugen had disappeared, and where his voice had come from.

“Don’t talk when you’re invisible,” she chided him. “Ventriloquism only works on the rubes. And don’t try to fool a fooler.”

She let go of his nose, and Shugen didn’t make any further sounds that James could hear.

“Obviously, I can see him as well,” Kana said. “However, this level of spell should be sufficient for mortal eyes.”

Harue rolled her eyes, but she took care to face James when she did so. That put the back of her head to Kana.

“Well, don’t grab his nose or anything,” she said. “You’d wrench it off, knowing your strength.”

“I certainly don’t intend to copy you,” Kana sniffed.

“How long do they last for?” Mitsue asked.

“As long as they’re attached, but they will become damaged if you don’t move carefully,” Shugen said. A stack of papers appeared in Mitsue’s hand. “I’ve made two for everybody.”

Mitsue looked at the stack and nodded. “Then, we have a plan.”

*

It wasn’t quite as easy as that. Invisibility was harder to handle than James had thought, especially as a group. They had to avoid tripping over each other, and they had been forced to recruit Harue to keep themselves properly separated.

James felt a touch on his chest, which meant he was supposed to stop. So he did, waiting for the touch on his back to start moving again. Harue’s cooperation was uncharacteristically helpful of her, and James wondered if he would be the victim of a spectacular prank once they were back at the academy to make up for it.

In this way—quietly walking in stops and starts—they made their way through the streets of the ninja village. It was surprisingly—not normal, it was an anachronistic throwback to the Edo period. But it wasn’t filled with ninja in black pyjamas throwing shuriken at each other. It was just normal village inhabitants going about their business.

Admittedly, it was a little odd that the traffic increased after sundown, especially with no street lighting. Only by a little, though. James didn’t see any sign of an alert being raised, but Mitsue had said that it was only a matter of time.

They made it to the treasure house without incident. The entrance was set back from the street, guarded by two poles carved with kanji unknown to James. Mitsue had told him that they denoted grave warnings.

They walked past the carved poles and right past the two guards that stood unmoving on either side of the doorway. James was worried they would hear him, but either his natural stealth was enough, or Shugen’s spell was masking the sound of his footsteps.

Next was a short passageway, ending in a sturdy-looking door. It looked like the door led directly into the cliff-face.

“The seal is on the other side of that door,” Harue said.

James jumped and quickly glanced back. The guards hadn’t reacted, which meant that Harue had used an illusion that only he could hear. He’d almost screamed, though, which would have given the game away. He glared at the empty patch of air that Harue’s voice had come from.

“How are we going to open the door when it’s in full view of the guards?” Harue said in a disturbingly accurate imitation of him.

“Well,” she replied in her own voice. “Mitsue is picking the lock right now.”

James looked, but he couldn’t see anything. Naturally.

Harue giggled. “I’m going to distract the guards now. Watch the door. When it opens, count to three before going through. Kana and I will wait outside until Shugen disables the ward.”

James couldn’t say anything, so he just nodded. At the same time, one of the guards spoke with a rough, gravelly voice.

“Hey, what did you say about my mother?”

“Huh? When?” The other guard’s voice had a higher pitch and a raspy quality to it.

“She’s your aunt, you arsehole. And she died in service to the village? You think you can just mouth off at her like that?”

“I didn’t say nothing!”

James kept his eyes on the door.

“Oh, that’s it. You may be family, but those are fighting words!”

“I didn’t say—hey!”

The door opened. James counted to three and went through, ignoring the sounds of fighting behind him.

“Six,” Shugen said, and the door closed. They were in a stone-walled room. Empty, except for the formations painted on the walls and floor. James could hear Shugen muttering to himself.

“This is far more dangerous than I was led to believe,” he grumbled. James could hear the ogre’s voice wandering around the room.

“Can you break it?” Mitsue asked.

“Of course I can break it!” Shugen declared. “The trick will be silencing the alarm.”

“Alarm?” Mitsue asked.

“Yes. I should note that the fact that the doors have been opened has been recorded somewhere.”

“We need to move quickly then,” Mitsue said flatly.

“Yes, yes.” Shugen ripped off his talisman. He appeared, holding it in his hand, as it burned with blue flame. “Girl! Do you see this part?”

He pointed at a spot on the wall. Suki tore off her own talisman and hurried over.

“Yes, I see…” she said. “Am I to break it?”

“No,” Shugen sneered. “That will only set off the secondary cascade. You need to suppress the flow of Qi while maintaining the flow that already exists.”

Suki stared at the wall, looking at something James couldn’t see. “I understand.” She took out her amulet and pressed it to the formation. “I’m ready.”

“Crutches,” Shugen muttered, but he moved on to a different part of the wall. “Now!” he called, and started dashing about the room. He touched eight places on the four walls and did something each time.

Suki, too, seemed to be concentrating on something. Finally, she relaxed.

“It’s stopped,” she reported.

“Tada!” Harue said, appearing in the room. “I knew you could do it, guys! Although…”

She looked around the room, sniffing. “Where’s the fresh blood? Where’s the respect for tradition?”

“Amateur,” Shugen scoffed. “A simple disruption would have both triggered the alarm and collapsed the cave on us, killing us all.”

“I’m sure you would have been fine,” Harue said airily. “Now where’s the treasure?”

“Where is Kana-sama?” Shugen countered.

“She’s still outside, keeping guard. She can’t walk through solid doors. Well, she can, but she leaves a hole. Also, it’s a good policy to keep dragons away from treasure vaults. They tend not to leave.”

Shugen grunted in disapproval, but he walked to the centre of the room, where a formation that had been untouched by his previous activities waited. He put his hand to the centre of it, and focused.

Light flared from the formation, and the massive stone slab that made up the far wall slid to the side. It revealed a room full of… weapons.

“That’s neat, I guess. I was expecting a lot more gold.” Harue pulled out the compass and started moving about the room.

“Ninjas value weapons more than coin,” Mitsue said. He took off the talisman and pointed. “I think the manriki-gusari is the one you want.”

Harue looked where he was pointing and shook her head. “Nah,” she said, and kept moving around.

“You should avoid touching the weapons you aren’t here for,” Mitsue told her. “Some of them may be cursed. And are you sure? It has a glowing yellow gem attached to the handle.”

“Yeah, the compass isn’t pointing to it,” Harue said. She had moved to the back of the room. “It’s pointing to this wall. I think there’s something behind it.”

She made a small ball of fire and flicked it at the wall, watching as it got absorbed. “Yeah, that’s not what stone does,” she said. “I think it’s a solid illusion, generated by a formation on the other side.”

“Nonsense,” Shugen said, hurrying over. “There would have to be some kind of mechanism on this side to turn it off, and I see no such thing.”

“There could be some kind of condition to let you pass,” Harue speculated. “Like, a token or something.”

“Doubtful, that would be—”

The fist that came through the wall was big and ugly. Black scales covered the back of it, and James could see that the fingers ended in long black claws. It was just the fist that hit Harue, though. That was enough to send her flying across the room with a surprised yelp.

A man stepped through, following the fist. Or, not a man, exactly. He was seven feet tall, and curved black horns sprouted from the sides of his head. A muscular tail, also covered in black scales, curved around behind him.

“It lets dragons through,” the man said. “And now you thieves are going to die.”