The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon

back on. Nevertheless, her doubts continued to grow.
    "He pulled the wool over your eyes, little girl. He gave you the shaft, he did."
    "No, he didn't."
    "I simply cannot comprehend this stubbornness of yours." The monkey said, laughing, "Unless it's your way of refusing to see what a fine fix you really are in."
    "Keiki protected me from the kochou. Keiki is my friend."
    "Really? Is he? And since coming here, exactly how has he helped you? It was that one time only, no?"
    Youko stared long and hard at the monkey. How could it know about what had happened before she came to this world? The tone of his voice gave her the creeps.
    "What do you mean, that one time?"
    "Over yonder, I mean. When you were attacked by the kochou, I mean."
    "How could you know anything about what happened there?"
    The monkey screeched, "Oh, I know everything about you, little girl. I know how much you distrusted Keiki. How hard you tried to get away from him. You don't want to believe it, how much he totally used you."
    Youko averted her gaze and stared at the dark road. "That's not . . . it's not true."
    "Then why hasn't he come to help you?"
    "Something must have happened."
    "What possibly could have happened? Did he not say he was going to protect you, little girl? Let us think this thing through. It was a trap, right? Do you get it now?"
    "Other than at the school, I can't be sure that I really saw him those other two times. It couldn't have been him!"
    "Have you been seeing a lot of golden-haired chaps around these parts?"
    I don't want to listen to this.
    "And wasn't your Jouyuu as well convinced it was Keiki as well?"
    How could he know about Jouyu? As she thought about this, staring off into the distance, the monkey's mocking eyes suddenly collided with hers.
    "I know everything. Just like I told you."
    Taiho. That voice was suddenly alive in her memory. She shook her head. She would never forget the surprise contained in that one word
    "No. That's not right. Keiki is not my enemy."
    "Are you certain? Really certain? Yes, but that would be nice."
    "Shut up!"
    The monkey turned its eyes towards the heavens, laughed. He whispered, "Want to know what I think?"
    "I don't want to hear it."
    "It was Keiki who sent those youma to attack you."
    Youko couldn't move. The monkey looked at her blank, wide-eyed stare and leered at her.
    She said, "No way."
    The monkey roared with mirth, peals of laughter that went on and on like the ravings of a madman.
    "There's no way!"
    "Are you so sure about that?"
    "He'd have no reason to do anything like that!"
    "No reason?" the monkey inquired, with a crooked smile.
    "Why would Keiki do something like that? It was Keiki who saved me from the Kochou, wasn't it? He gave me this sword, and put Jouyuu inside me. It's only thanks to him that I'm still alive."
    The monkey giggled gleefully.
    "If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it right then and there."
    "He had you attacked on purpose, so he could save you and be your pal. Did you ever think of that?"
    Youko bit her lip. "Yes, but now that I've got Jouyuu, it won't be so easy. If he wanted to kill me now, he'd have to exorcize Jouyuu out of me first."
    "But maybe his goal isn't to kill you."
    "Then what?"
    "Hmm, I wonder. Well, you'd better figure it out eventually. They are really going to come after you after this."
    Youko scowled at the bobbing, chortling head and quickened her pace. "You can't go home." The monkey's voice followed after her. "Not at all, little girl. You're going to die here, my dear."
    "No way."
    "But there's always a way, isn't there? If it hurts so much, it could all be over in an instant. "
    "Shut up!" Youko shouted.
    Her words were swallowed up in the darkness.

Part IV
    ouko continued on her aimless trek for two more days, with only the blue monkey as her companion. She had no other goal but to get as far away from Hairou and Kasai as possible.
    At every city the gates were closely watched by the guards and travelers were carefully inspected. Perhaps it had gotten out that a runaway kaikyaku from Hairou had shown up in Kasai. At the smaller towns, the small number of people coming and going meant that it was impossible to mingle in with the crowds and get past the guards.
    She had no choice but to keep to the highway and camp in the fields at night. On the third day, she arrived at a city even larger than Kasai, surrounded by a high, fortified wall studded with parapets. "Takkyuu Castle," it said above the gate. This, then,