The folklore section of the library was dark and dusty.  Down here, amongst the ancient tattered volumes, Kantarou had spent so much time in the past desperately searching for his Demon Eating Tengu that he had read almost every book there.  He stood tapping the shelves, trying to ignore the dust irritating his nose and eyes. 

  “If there’s nothing here let’s go home,” Haruka suggested for the fourth time.  He lifted his head from the table and rubbed his eyes.  He couldn’t understand how Kantarou could stand the atmosphere of the place.  The dark he didn’t mind, but the whole library smelt so rotten and decaying it was a miserable place to be.  Kantarou didn’t stop tapping.  He didn’t even look up.  His brow was creased in concentration, like he was trying to remember something important.  It seemed to Haruka as though the man hadn’t even heard him.

  “Oi, Kantarou...”  Haruka’s raised voice echoed around the empty library.  Kantarou sighed.

  “I know, I know... but... there must be something...”  He turned his attention back to the shelves and began rifling through the volumes once more, throwing up a new cloud of dust.  Haruka stood up and went over to stand beside Kantarou.

  “Kantarou.  You’ve been doing this for hours.  Let’s go home.”  Kantarou took a small book from the shelf and began leafing through its moulding pages.

  “It’s fine.  You can go home if you like,” he told Haruka without looking up from the pages of the book.  Haruka frowned and wondered, not for the first time, why Kantarou had to be so stubborn.  He grabbed Kantarou’s wrist to ensure he had his full attention.  Kantarou looked up at the tengu in surprise.

  “You are so unreasonable.”  Haruka took the book from his master’s hand and put it back on the shelf.  “Enough.  I’m hungry and Youko will be mad that we’ve been out all day.”  He did not let go of Kantarou’s wrist, but also did not make any attempt to force Kantarou to leave, remembering what had happened when he had tried that before.  Kantarou looked away from Haruka’s eyes, face miserable with defeat. 

  “I... um...” Kantarou stammered and shifted uncomfortably.  “I want to know what is going on, Haruka,” he said quietly. 

  “Why?  Why are you so obsessed with this?”  Haruka studied his master’s face closely.  He looked tired and worried, and there was discomfort there too.  Haruka wondered if Kantarou was really as well as he purported to be. 

  “I’m not obsessed!  It’s just that… I can’t forget that room.  When I felt that demon.  Just thinking about it makes me feel...”  Kantarou shook his head.  “I don’t know.”  Haruka took Kantarou’s other wrist and squeezed gently.

  “You’re such an idiot, Kantarou,” he said.  Kantarou looked up at the tengu.  His face was so serious and sincere Kantarou couldn’t help but giggle.

  “Are you worried about me, Haruka?” he chuckled kindly.  Haruka looked away and scowled.

  “No,” he said shortly.  But Kantarou did not miss the blush on the tengu’s cheeks.  “Anyway,” Haruka went on, desperate to change the subject.  “Seeing as you can’t find anything about the demon why not try the house?”

  “The house?” 

Haruka shrugged.

  “I knew a house that was possessed once.  And you said you felt it all around you.”

  “The house...”  Kantarou wondered how he had not thought of it.  But then he had not exactly been at his best lately.  He grinned at Haruka.  “Thanks, Haruka!” he said, then looked down at his arms and giggled.  “Ah... but I’ll need my hands, if that’s alright...”  Haruka hastily let go of his master and mumbled an apology.  Kantarou smiled at him again. 

“This will take a while so you should go home, Haruka,” he said as they walked up the stairs towards the main part of the library.  Haruka shrugged again.

  “It doesn’t smell so bad up here,” he replied, and made himself comfortable on a reading chair as Kantarou began rifling through old newspapers and public records.  It was not long before the tengu was fast asleep.  Kantarou stopped and watched his friend thoughtfully for a moment.

  “I know I’m an idiot, Haruka,” Kantarou whispered, a sad smile on his lips.  “But I won’t let go of you either.”

***

  Haruka was just about ready to start pulling his hair out.  And it wasn’t even midday yet.

  “Why are we back here?”  He was whining and he knew it, but nothing good would come of this.  Kantarou chose to ignore him.

  “I’m glad it has almost stopped raining, Haruka,” he said instead, taking a sip of tea from the cup in his hand.  “It’s an omen.”  Haruka looked around agitatedly.   

  “An omen of our imminent doom,” he murmured under his breath.  Despite the improved weather, the hearth room of the Suzuki house looked just as dark and forbidding as before.  Somewhere in the house the telephone rang.  Kantarou listened to it distractedly for a moment before speaking again.

  “Haruka, it won’t be like last time.  I’m not ill and we know what we’re doing.”  Haruka frowned and looked at his master doubtfully. 

  “We do?” he asked dryly. 

  “We do,” Kantarou replied firmly.  “From what I can tell, people have been dying in this house for decades.  Some of the newspaper reports even mentioned that room...”  Kantarou shivered, trying not to think how close that place was.  “Anyway, it must be that the house is possessed, as you said.  The locals even gave the house a name; “The House of Warm Rain”, because so many people’s blood has flowed here.  Dramatic, isn’t it?  The ghosts of those killed must only serve to make things worse. ”

  “Wouldn’t someone have tried to exorcise the place before?”

  “It seems the demon possesses those that live here as well as the house, so only people have been exorcised.”  Kantarou put down his cup and smoothed down the material of his beautifully patterned clothing.  “Still, I’m sure that room is the source of all this.”  Haruka continued to cast Kantarou doubtful looks.

   Haruka was on the verge of asking Kantarou if he had ever actually exorcised a house before, when an ear-splitting scream rang out above them.  There was a loud thud and Kantarou was on his feet, beads in hand and rushing towards the hall. 

  “It’s coming from that room…”  There was fear in his voice.  It made Haruka uneasy.  He scrambled after his master, reaching the hallway in time to see Kantarou starting up the stairs.  He froze there, that uneasy feeling grown into terror.  It was something he had not felt for a long time.

  “Kantarou,” Haruka called. “Wait…”  Though he wasn’t sure why he should wait.  In any case, Kantarou didn’t seem to hear and continued scrambling up the staircase, seemingly doing his very best to ignore the pain in his leg and the growing discomfort in his chest. 

  Haruka sprinted the few steps to the stairs, determined to stop Kantarou from getting any nearer to the room.  But he was so focused on Kantarou’s progress he did not see Sudou Takeshi careening towards him from the other end of the corridor.  The collision sent Haruka sprawling onto his back with Sudou lying on his chest.  His head connected painfully with the polished wood floor and it took him a moment to gather his senses.  There was a thud upstairs, as though the sliding doors had been slammed shut.  Haruka thought this odd.  Why would Kantarou close the door behind him?  He heard voices; Kantarou was talking to someone. 

  “Get off me,” Haruka growled and pushed the dazed Sudou to the side.  He picked himself up off the floor and made for the stairs again, his head still spinning slightly from the impact.  Climbing the stairs now, he could hear the muffled sound of a woman’s voice.  The sound sent shivers down Haruka’s spine.  It was so spiteful and angry, and dripping with icy malevolence.  Haruka scrambled the last few steps in something of a panic.  The owner of that voice was in that room alone with Kantarou.  The thought ripped at his chest as he reached the door.  He made to open it but found he couldn’t.  He tugged again, the voice inside growing steadily louder.  Haruka banged at the door, demanded admittance but was quickly rebuked by Kantarou;

  “Stop it, Haruka!” he shouted back, irritation evident in his voice.  “You’ll make her even angrier!”  Not that Haruka cared.  He would have told Kantarou that too, but he could hear his master talking quickly now.  Haruka put his ear to the door.  He could hear the woman’s voice again, making him shudder involuntarily.  There was scuffling then, and he thought he could hear Kantarou chanting but the woman let out another scream, just as loud and painful as before, drowning out any other sounds in the room.  Haruka resumed trying to force his way in, this time drawing forth his staff.  When the screaming stopped suddenly, Haruka paused in surprise.  He thought he heard Kantarou call his name.  Then there was silence.