The wind bit at my ears as Murasaki carried me higher, her wings thrumming like a warped baseline.

I tried to keep my gaze on the bus tunnel below, a black mouth yawning at the edge of the forest, waiting for idiots like me.

"Murasaki," I shouted over the rush of air.

I pointed towards the bus tunnel.

"Set us down over there, in the clearing."

Her arms tightened around me like I was luggage she didn't want to lose.

For a second, I thought she'd argue, but she dipped her wings and began to descend though the air with a grace that suggested she was showing off.

We broke through a halo of sakura petals before the clearing opened beneath us.

She slowed, beating her wings steadily and hovered just above the tree line, but wouldn't take us down further.

She seemed to tense.

I followed her gaze and understood why.

Inego stood waiting, looking up at us with a startled look on his face.

Murasaki's claws flexed into my school coat.

"It's him," she hissed, the word dipped in venom.

I sighed, knowing she'd hate seeing him, but hoping she could get over it.

"He's not going to bite. Relax."

She tilted her head, eyes narrowing like a cat about to bolt.

"Oh? Why should I, Ryu-kun? I set you down, and you'll just walk away with your friend."

My chest pitched.

I knew what she was really saying.

It was the same thing Shion, Yuki, Azuki and even Inego had said.

"Listen," I said, trying to sound sincere over her wings. "I'm not going to leave you. I'm here, okay? I won't bail."

That must've worked.

Her expression cracked into something wicked and pleased all at once.

"Darling! That's… will you promise me?"

Her eyes flashed, like she was testing something in me.

I hesitated, wondering exactly how bad on a cosmic level this was.

Way higher than poking a hornet's nest and licking a power outlet, but she was watching me like a starving kid.

And I knew what it was like to be alone.

"I promise," I said, instantly regretting it.

Her grin spread into something slow and sharp, like a knife being unsheathed.

"Thank you. You realize you just made a promise to a demon, don't you?"

I shivered as she reached up and casually stroked my cheek.

"Yeah. I'll have to add it to my list of other stupid decisions I've made while staying on Shin'yume."

She laughed, but she finally brought us down, her wings folding and disappearing as we touched the forest's dry floor.

I was glad to have my feet on the ground again, even if the ground was littered with cigarette butts, sake bottles, and what I guessed where instant ramen flavor packets.

Inego was less than thrilled.

He didn't wave, or smile.

He shoved his glasses on the bridge of his nose and scowled like we'd landed on his favorite rug.

"Oi, mate. You brought her?"

Murasaki took a step closer to me, her arm brushed against mine, like she was staking a claim.

Her glare at Inego could've curdled milk.

"Don't sound so thrilled, darling," she said with fake sweetness.

He winced, noting the poison in her tone.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Believe me, I'm not," he shot back.

I put myself between the two of them before it turned into a "succubus versus Brit with a bad attitude."

"Knock it off, both of you. Listen, we need to work together, okay?"

Murasaki arched an eyebrow, the picture of innocence.

"Work together? Is that what this is about? I came to see you, darling. I'm not here to join your little magician's quest."

Inego barked a laugh, cold and sharp.

"Good! We don't need your kind of help."

Murasaki turned to him, quick as a whip. Her eyes burned with a violet fire, and I could feel the anger radiating off her in the center of my chest.

"Oh, I'm so very sorry. Did I ask for your opinion, mortal?"

I balled my fist in frustration.

"For the love of... I said stop it!"

Both Inego and Murasaki jumped.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, not meaning to shout.

"Sorry," I muttered. "Look, Inego, she's here, okay? And since she's here, maybe she can help, regardless of why she came here."

Murasaki's expression flickered. Curiosity, interest, and something else.

"Interesting," she purred. "Help with what?"

I dug into my coat and pulled out the ratty envelope Skuzz had given me.

The damn thing seemed to squirm as soon as I grabbed it, and it felt like it was wiggling as I held it.

"This. It's an invitation to the island, and we need to figure out how to get it through the tunnel."

Murasaki took it delicately.

It felt like it was squirming when I let go, or like it was a beating heart.

As soon as she picked it up, it felt like a weight had been lifted from me, and I hadn't even realized how heavy the damn envelope had been.

"Whatever magic this is, it makes my skin crawl," she said.

Inego'e head snapped up.

He looked as rattled as I felt.

"Bloody hell. I hate to admit it, but I agree with her."

Murasaki blinked at him in exaggerated shock, then she grinned, making her look like an adorable imp.

She puffed her chest out proudly, the movement entirely deliberate.

"Well, that's a first. I do make it a point to be agreeable, darling."

Inego muttered something that sounded like "gobshite" under his breath.

I stood there, staring at the envelope, realizing that when both the succubus and my best friend agreed something was bad news, then it probably was.

It wasn't too late, I realized, to burn the damn thing instead of sending it through the tunnel.

Inego didn't look thrilled, which was a shock to absolutely no one.

He gave Murasaki the same look he usually saved for moldy leftovers in the Shin'yume-sou fridge.

"Oi," he muttered. "I'm still not bloody happy about working with her. Succubus or not, I've been trying to send things through the tunnel, and I've yet to figure it out."

Murasaki smirked, draping herself half behind me like she was posing for some Renaissance painting.

"Then maybe you should try harder, darling."

Her voice dripped with amusement, like she thought this was all a performance for her entertainment.

Inego ignored her, glasses flashing as he crouched by the dirt near the tunnel's mouth.

"But I did find something," he said, voice shifting into the kind of seriousness that always made my stomach knot.

I frowned and stepped closer, but all I saw was dirt and dead leaves.

"Uh huh. Congratulations on discovering… ground."

Murasaki crossed her arms under her chest and tilted her head.

"Yes, wonderful. It's the forest floor, covered in dirt and bugs. Truly riveting, mortal."

Inego groaned, his face turning an angry red.

"For the love of… just look closer."

He jabbed a finger at a faint groove in the earth.

At first it looked like nothing more than shadows in the dirt.

But then I noticed what he meant: two shallow ruts, parallel, cutting through the forest floor.

Like someone had dragged a wagon through here decades ago and the forest still remembered.

"They're faint," I said, crouching beside him. "But yeah. Tracks."

"Bloody right," he muttered. "They run straight to the tunnel. Then stop."

Murasaki finally leaned in, her long hair brushing my arm as she peered down.

Her frown deepened.

"So… wheels? Wagons? Really? That's your grand discovery?"

Inego narrowed his eyes as he nodded.

"Oi, it's better than bugger-all," Inego snapped. "Something's been through here before us. Something with weight enough to leave these tracks. The wagon's not here, and the bloody tunnel didn't eat it, so it must've been leaving the forest."

I rubbed the back of my neck, staring at the lines until they blurred.

"Well. If someone brought a wagon out here, they must've picked something up, right?"

Murasaki straightened, brushing imaginary dust from her dress.

"Makes sense to me darling. All we need to do now is follow the dirt lines like they're a moldy yellow road. Such a bold plan, darling."

She smiled at me, and I swore, she was actually glad to be part of this, despite her teasing.

"Yeah, well," I said, forcing myself not to rise to the bait, "until you've got a better idea, we follow the tracks back."

Inego gave me a sharp nod, and the three of us set off, following the faint scars in the earth.

The walk wasn't exactly comfortable.

On one side I had Inego, muttering under his breath about "bloody demons" every five steps.

On the other side, Murasaki swayed along like she was in no rush, throwing me sidelong glances every so often that said she'd rather drag me into the trees than chase phantom wheel marks.

The tracks cut through the underbrush, weaving back toward campus.

Branches snagged my coat, leaves crunched underfoot, and all the while I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being pulled along like rats following a flute.

Then the woods broke, and the tracks curved around Crescent Moon Academy.

I stopped dead in my tracks as recognition hit me.

"Oh no," I muttered.

The tracks didn't just lead behind campus.

I remembered walking here after my fight with Ken, and I knew where they headed.

They aimed us straight at a squat, ugly building squatting in the distance, all smoke-stained wood and bad decisions.

Obie the Bitter Dwarf's Lodge.

Even from here I swore I could smell spilled beer, stale weed, and the general aura of men who'd given up on caring sometime in the late 2010s.

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face.

"Of course they'd lead here. Why the hell not?"

Murasaki arched an eyebrow, her lips curling in a wicked grin.

"Oh? A tavern? How quaint. Is this where you and your little friends drink away your sorrows, darling?"

If only she knew.

"Not exactly," I muttered. "It's worse. That's not a drinking lodge or anything like that. At least, not now. It's Obie the Bitter Dwarf's place."

Inego groaned like he'd just been told his rent had tripled.

"The insane drunken groundskeeper? Bloody hell. Him."

Murasaki laughed, and then laced her arm though mine

"The fact that this place makes you uncomfortable, Inego, is absolutely adorable. I'm glad I'm here to see it."

I sighed, and looked down at her hand, feeling her warmth but not wanting her to get comfortable.

Shion would absolutely slash my throat if she saw Murasaki clinging to me like this.

And I had other things to worry about anyways because the wagon tracks led straight to the side of the lodge.

Which meant, like it or not, we'd have to follow.

I stared at the sagging roof, the crooked porch, and wondered out loud.

"…Do we really have to go in there?"

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