The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

doesn't remember us at all."
    "Unbelievable," Rokuta muttered, running back to Ransetsu Hall.
    Renrin and Keiki looked at their wit's end. Risai stood there like a ramrod.
    "Renrin--"
    "En Taiho, Taiki is--"
    "You met with him? What do you mean, he can't remember?"
    Renrin shook her head. Her face was pale.
    "Taiki is in that bad of a state?"
    "He definitely is. But he is safe. By which I mean he is still alive. But he doesn't remember anything about this world. Or what kind of being he is. What shirei are or what happened to him."
    "Damn," Enki blurted out. "His horn. Does he still have a horn?"
    "This may be because he doesn't have a horn. What should we do next, En Taiho?"
    "We'll do whatever has to be done."
    Whether or not he still remembered, they couldn't leave him there. In his current state, none of them knew how much longer he would last. To make matters worse, his shirei were still with him, and they were almost out of control. If abandoned, sooner or later all hell would break loose. Nobody could begin to imagine what Toutetsu would do if no longer bound.
    "Has word been relayed to Shouryuu?"
    "I will," said Hanrin. "The remaining shirei will track him down. Using the tonkou, they should overtake him quickly."
    "Good," Enki said to himself. "In any case, Taiki must be returned to this world. He may not cotton to the idea at first, but if force is required then force must be used. After that--who's to say? Perhaps once his horn has healed, it will all come back to him."
    Enki turned to Risai. "Is that okay with you? Do you have any objections?"
    "I concur," Risai said, her face pale and drawn.

Chapter 43
    L ate that night, beneath the light of the Moon, somewhere on the seas surrounding the kingdom of Yamato, the surface of the ocean was behaving bizarrely.
    No sign of land could be seen in any direction. The strangely flat surface reached out to the horizon. There were no boats--and no living thing--in sight. Only the moonlight shimmering like a white stone.
    Slight perturbations like wrinkles in a bolt of cloth cut across the water's surface, interrupting the Moon's reflection. The reflection warped and shattered, suddenly growing, and then tracing a perfect circle in light.
    In the center of that circle of light, shadows danced below the water's surface. The countless shadows soared up into the heavens and abruptly stopped. The Moon's reflection beneath them thinned and began to return to its original form.
    All at once, its shape was broken by the waves. The psychic streams tossed and turned, changing into violent currents in the air. The raging billows churned the ocean into a sea of foam.
    The appearing shirei headed toward the far shore. Those youma divided in number by the Kouyoukyou, joined those recruited from the Yellow Sea, and grew to unheard of numbers. They stealthily advanced upon the shores and there raised their voices.
    Amidst the howling gale came the cry, We are here, further beckoning the surging winds.
    The voices of those being summoned to these shores--and the voices beckoning them there--were caught up in the sound of the wind swirling over the coastline.
    At last, a single equine silhouette among all those crossing the raging surface of the sea called out to a single shadow among all those along the shore.
    He realized that those voices in the wind and rain--and those emerging upon the shore--were calling out to him. Their voices sought out the essence of the long-sealed beast inside and resounded within him.
    He did not understand what they were saying.
    He did not understand why they were beckoning to him.
    But he said, come.
    And on they came.
    The heavy lid that had long sealed his true nature was beginning to stir.
    Mysteriously, the invisible golden strands left behind by those searching for him had set it in motion. Without intending to, wandering to and fro in their quest, their tracks had spun around him a spider's web of golden silk. The thin, golden currents of the life force had infused the ink-black shadows of his existence.
    And wrenching the cage further open were those looking for him. Renrin had observed him finding his way along the shore. She could not say herself what motivated her to remove the Koseisan and transform before him. Having met him once before, perhaps she felt emboldened to appeal to him in person. Perhaps she wanted to entreat with him: You are a kirin.
    She had no idea how he would interpret this gesture. Though being named a kirin, he would