Jin sighed, craning his neck backwards as he looked at the dark night sky. There wasn’t a single star around. Jin thought Tokyo couldn’t be any more boring. Slowly he looked down to his hands. There’s around four pearls in his palm, the ones he won over, and kept the Liminal pearls with him. Those four had always been the essential weapons to him. Jin didn’t fight too much. Unlike the other Keepers, he fought only when necessary. On some occasions, he’ll cage the Liminals and keep them with someone else – of course, only those little harmless Liminals that won’t have a chance to break free.

Swiftly he shoved the pearls back into his pocket, and took out a small notebook instead. Why was it, again, that people always lost control of themselves when the Liminal souls possessed them? Jin hated that fact – he had to kill because Liminals went berserk. When in reality the bearer of the Liminal souls were innocent. Jin was desperate, to find another way. This wasn’t what he wanted when he became a Keeper. The feeling of guilt when the Liminal souls extracted and turned into any color of pearls, and left the lifeless body on the ground, it felt overwhelming. Jin clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Liminals are people on the threshold of a psychological and metaphysical subjective state of unconsciousness between two different existential planes – a human and a mythical creature. That was what Nakamaru always told them. But there was a lot of questions arose from that fact. Threshold being the keyword. That means there is a margin, Jin thought, between conscious and unconsciousness. With that, Jin started to doubt. Was it really true that there isn’t a single Liminal who can control themselves in a Liminal form.

Jin still remembered Nakamaru said something about how to guard their souls from being possessed. It has something to do about being sure of your intentions, more of a spiritual strength than a physical one. The world is full with lingering Liminal souls, and you have to be strong. But it remained ambiguous, of why other people were affected. Lazily Jin picked a small cage beside him, and walked towards a small pet store.

“Bringing something again?” Yabu greeted. Jin put the small cage on the counter.

“Anywhere else I could trust a Liminal with?” Jin retorted back. Yabu took a look at the creature inside the cage.

“It’s a sprite,” Yabu said. And Jin nodded slightly.

“How are the other Liminals in your care?” Jin asked, in the bid of being polite to his god brother. He didn’t get the chance to care much about him lately.

Yabu chuckled. “I begin to feel I should just open a Liminal shop instead. But the merman is literally disturbing. Sometimes he’s struggling, sometimes he looks confused.”

“Ah, it seems like you understand Liminal body language,” there was a hint of sarcasm in Jin’s voice, unfortunately woven only to go unnoticed by the younger one.

“Well, I’m the one feeding and nursing them every day,” Yabu set the new cage Jin lent to him aside. “Why didn’t you just extract their pearls? You’ll gain the pearl and gain more power yourself. Especially merman is the king of sea.”

“Their pearls aren’t my target,” Jin simply answered. “Don’t worry. Merman might be strong and dangerous, but they’re useless on the land. I’ll find a way how to handle these people. Will get back to you later.”

“People?” Yabu’s brows rose.

“Well, they are people,” Jin insisted. “Before they turn into some heartless skunks.”

*****

Kame flipped a few pearls between his fingers, swiftly circled them around to make some friction. It produced some warmth on the surface of the pearls and they started to shine. His eyes were intense, preying the creature in front of him. The chimera’s tail hissed in a snake form, and the lioness head roared to the sky. Kame gritted his teeth. The view of an old man lying dead below the chimera’s paw angered him.

He would have just jump in and hit the chimera out of emotion, but a hand gripped his shoulder firmly shifting his attention away. “Don’t,” Koki warned, his hand holding a long staff firmly. “Liminals have zero control of their wills, remember.”

Kame took a deep breath to control himself, while Koki extended the staff towards the chimera. The people around the city had been running around to save themselves. Those who didn’t make it ended up being attacked by the chimera, a few corpse scattered on the street. Koki took a firm step to keep his balance.

“Shall we drive the chimera somewhere outside the city? People are dying,” Koki suggested.

“We’re in the middle of the city, we have nowhere to go. Let the people run, we’ll try and stop the chimera as soon as possible,” Kame answered. “It’s a felines Liminal, it’s strong. I’ll be using the golden pearl for strength, and the grey pearl to freeze and weaken its soul, and also the brown pearl to demotivate it. Just find me a chance so it won’t be able to deflect my pearls,” he explained quickly.

Just then the chimera raised its paw, trying to catch another man who was still running as fast as he could. Koki stepped forward, extending his staff to block the chimera’s paw, but the chimera deflected the staff easily. Koki used the momentum to turn around faster and shifted himself from below its paw down to its body. He twisted his grip at the middle of the staff and used the other end of his weapon to knock down one of the chimera’s knee. Losing its own balance, the chimera started to fall, but Koki quickly turned his staff and staked it below the chimera. Just as the chimera’s body fall, the staff poked hardly below its body, making the chimera roar in pain. Koki jumped further just in time not to be crushed under the Liminal.

Kame took this chance. Holding a silver diamond-like stone – something Nakamaru invented, which they called the Peacock Stone that can react to Liminal pearls – Kame threw the colored shining pearls towards the chimera. Just as the pearls stick on the chimera’s body, they shone brighter, and Kame extended the silver stone towards the chimera. The snake tail moved forward, trying to pull the pearls away. But Koki swiftly threw another loose stick, straight into the snake's hissing mouth, stabbing deep into its throat. The snake tail threw its head back, wiggling itself, trying to free its mouth.

“Please,” Kame whispered. “Stay alive,” he activated the stone. The pearls were sticking on the chimera’s skin, shining in their own colors – golden, brown and grey. The chimera itself started to shine in golden light, slowly something was extracted out from it. It took one whole minute until the chimera turned back into a woman, and another golden pearl was born from the extraction. The pearls fell unceremoniously, rolling on the ground, with the body of a woman dropping helplessly. Koki caught her body in his arms just before she reached the ground.

Kame breathed softly, watching yet another sight of extracting a Liminal soul. He gave Koki a questioning look. Knowing exactly what Kame meant, Koki pressed the woman’s jugular, but he bit his lips and shook his head right after. Kame scrunched his eyes shut in despair. The woman is dead. He knew. Slowly Kame picked his pearls back. Just when he was about to pick the golden pearl that was newly extracted from the woman, Kame paused – long.

“Kazu,” Koki called, trying to bring Kame out from his agony.

“I knew they’ll die,” Kame gave out a fake smile. “I just hope someday, they will stay alive,” he looked around. The view of a few corpse dead under the paw of the chimera made Kame sighed. Something uncomfortable was reeling inside his stomach. Kame couldn’t really describe how it feels.

They were interrupted by the sound of a sobbing. Turning around, they saw a man crying beside the dead woman. Kame and Koki frowned, approaching the man slowly.

“She’s my wife,” tears were rolling down his cheeks. “We had a fight and we haven’t talk properly about it. How am I supposed to accept that she died because she became a Liminal?” his voice was very low, struggling to even speak in his weeping.

Kame swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’m so sorry.” He saw an image at that moment – the memories of his whole family. His parents and his brothers – who were killed by a Liminal. He could still remember his thin weak self crying beside their corpses. It was the very moment that he sold his everything to be a Keeper. The moment that he will never forget.

*****

“Hey, cut that down, will you?” Ryo exclaimed, snatching the spoon from Ueda’s hand. “You’re going to get us all diabetes.”

“But it tasted plain,” Ueda whined, grabbing the teapot full with black coffee close to him.

“It’s not! The coffee tasted just fine to me. Don’t you dare adding anything unnecessary!” Ryo warned, putting the jar of sugar into the cupboard.

“Fine! I’m not drinking coffee with you!” Ueda argued and stomped away.

“Where are you going?” Ryo fumed.

“I’m better off jogging outside than having coffee with a tasteless boring bastard like you,” Ueda grimaced, walking out as he slammed the door close.

Ryo’s eyes wide, staring at the closed door before turning towards Yamapi. Yamapi was left speechless, frozen in his seat with Takki’s book in his hand.

“How am I supposed to look after this kid?” Ryo complained. “We should quickly get rid of him. I’m getting tired.”

Yamapi shrugged. “Case in point, Ryo. We don’t even know his age yet.”

“No matter how old he looks like, he is seven years old,” Ryo scoffed. “Why can’t he just sit quietly like a good boy?”

Yamapi was about to reply when the door suddenly banged open again.

“Pi!” Ueda squealed. “Look what I’ve got!” he shoved a small paper bag with another piece of paper packing towards Yamapi. “The store at the end of the corner gave me these chocolates and candies for free! And fresh salmon sashimi for only 500 yen! We can have salmon sashimi tonight!”

Ryo’s eyes widened more, if that was even possible. Yamapi was surprised, but he bit his lower lip in the bid of trying to hold back his laughter. Ryo’s eyebrows started to twitch in annoyance.

“Oops,” Yamapi mumbled in silence.

“Put. That. Slimy. Thing. Away!” Ryo screamed to the top of his lungs.

“This is not a ‘thing’. This is a food!” Ueda snapped. Yamapi didn’t really pay much attention to the rest of the quarreling though. He just shook his head and returned to his reading. A grin kept plastered on his face.

*****

Nakamaru sighed, scratching his head roughly. Gently he tucked his books away, scratching his eyes tiredly. He couldn’t quite make a conclusion out of the very little clues he had. First, Tatsuya is hunting something. Second, he left his Liminal pearls and the Peacock Stone behind. Third, evidence that showed he was after an equine Liminal. There are at least 20 equine Liminals around. Which one of them was Tatsuya after? Which one of them was easily hunted to the point that Tatsuya dare to leave the pearls behind, and moreover, going alone? Ueda never liked going alone, he hated it the most. He always complained it was lonely. How he even thought of departing on his own was beyond Nakamaru’s comprehension. Nakamaru sighed heavily.

“What’s wrong?” Kame asked, just in time when he walked in that he heard Nakamaru sighing.

“Kame,” Nakamaru asked as he grounded up. “Have you ever caught an equine Liminal?”

“No,” Kame answered in all honestly. “Jin did though. I thought he caught a centaur before.”

“I know,” Nakamaru said. “But did he catch or did he extract the pearl?”

“What does that make any difference?” Koki chuckled at his friend’s question.

“No,” Kame interrupted. “With Jin, it made a lot of difference,” he said, granting him a nod by Nakamaru. “I just hope he won’t put us all into trouble someday,” Kame shrugged a bit. “Why do you ask anyway?”

“Tatsuya is missing,” Nakamaru answered dismissively.

Kame rolled his eyes. “Not that again.”

“No. This time, I’m serious,” Nakamaru countered. “And there is a huge possibility he is after an equine Liminal.”



To be continued...