20 First Lessons

"Oh, come on! Do you always have to spoil my fun?" Arahabaki asked Kanghui, who shrugged.

The three giggling female ghostly corpses disappeared.

"So you are Aussie, aren't ya?" Arahabaki asked Alex.

"Well, was Aussie."

Plain old truth, a death certificate would erase Alex's existence as an Australian. Just another number ticked off as dead on the population census of Australia, which placed all importance on the living.

"Ah well, still an unusual nationality of origin," Arahabaki commented. "You have quite the unusual country. Half the animals and insects would try to kill you and unusual white herons diving into bins."

Alex stared at Arahabaki. "What white herons? Diving into bins?"

"Not white exactly. They have a few blackish feathers," Arahabaki's eyes gazed up as he continued, "Oh and black bald heads with those very nice curved beaks."

Alex stifled a laugh by gulping down hard.

"What?"

"Those aren't white herons. Those are our bin chickens."

Arahabaki frowned. "Bin chickens?"

"Australian Ibis. White plumage. Black head and black beaks. Those are our bin chickens," Alex said. "They dumpster dive for food."

Arahabaki looked at him quizzically. "They dive into bins for food."

"We have to go. Fun and games are over," Kanghui interrupted them.

"Oh no, I like to know more about Australia," Arahabaki tightened his grip on Alex's neck, causing him to struggle.

"Let go."

"Make me," Arahabaki's eyes glimmered as he waved his hand.

Come on, let go, Alex thought as he squirmed to free himself.

To no avail.

"Free yourself," Kanghui folded her arms. "First lesson."

"Why do you always spoil my fun?" Arahabaki grumbled as his arm-hold tightened almost like a hangman's noose, causing Alex to claw back at his arm to free himself.

'I will attack Arahabaki whether you get yourself out of not'. Her telepathic message swept through his head, sending Alex into a mass panic.

Alex closed his eyes as tightly and wished hard that he was not in the line of a potential crossfire.

Need to get out.

No way out.

Concentrate hard.

Grip tightening.

Need to get behind her and near Yata.

All thoughts concentrated on his freedom.

His mind finally screamed, 'I WANT TO BE FREE LIKE THE WIND!'

In an instant flash, a wind whisked him from the grip of Arahabaki and pushed right smack into the back of Yata, who was transforming from his spider form into a human under the strewn clothes on the ground.

"HEY!" Yata hollered as Alex quickly push Yata's back away. "My eye!"

Alex felt something hard move in his palm, then his eyes drew him towards Yata's upper back. Six protruding spider eyes, arranged in a v-shape, resembling a tattoo, were staring back at him.

"S-s-shit…" he scrambled away in panic while Yata quickly pull the yukata up.

"First thing he learns about using his powers - FLEE. Bravo," Arahabaki clapped his hands a few times in contemptuous amusement.

Alex looked at himself, then at a smirking Yata rubbing his back.

He did it! But how? Wait, all he did was to concentrate hard and empty all other thoughts. So this was a method.

A nudge by Yata and he looked at where Yata was, tilting his head. Kanghui's amber eyes changed to a reddish glow.

"Are they really going to fight?" Alex whispered to Yata, who bit his lips and nodded.

"Kanghui never backs down from one."

"Come on, I expect some thanks for helping you out with pretty boy…" Arahabaki reminded them. "ICU and the borderlines."

"Borderlines?" Alex repeated the word, puzzled. "Why would he help me out?"

Ignoring Alex's words, Yata exclaimed, "SO that's why you asked me if my brother, Shiro, spoke. And there was I thinking Shiro has progressed to human speech."

"That place where those skeletal birds were - that's the borderlines?" Alex asked again.

"The borderlines determine life or death permanently. Not like the shrine where we have been," Yata replied in a hush voice while keeping his eyes trained on Arahabaki.

"What are you two lovebirds whispering about?" A smiling Arahabaki asked while squatting next to them as Yata and Alex scrambled back towards Kanghui in shock.

A second ago, Arahabaki wasn't near them.

"I-I… h-he… W-we are not lovebirds," they both stuttered, surprised by him sneaking up.

"Funny, I thought you both were… HEYYYYyyy…"

Kanghui had yanked Arahabaki's collar and threw him across to where he was.

Arahabaki somersaulted into an attack position, posed almost like a sprinter ready to spring head-on into Kanghui, while Alex and Yata watched in shock.

Her facial expression betrayed nothing, just poker faced with no cards shown.

"Can't tell if she is angry. Kanghui must be hard to play poker against," Alex muttered.

"That's why she is dangerous. No one knows what she is thinking. Even Arahabaki…," Yata tilted his head. "He looks surprised."

"And that's why I like you," Arahabaki smiled as the chains unlocked from his wrist again to form a whip of glowing reddish spiked chains.

The shop houses on both sides immediately vanished, creating a wide berth. Alex looked around in surprise. He didn't realise that the shop-houses could also just disappear like that.

Kanghui, poised in a striking position, whipped something out of the air. Still no expression on her face.

Alex squinted his eyes at the weapon in her hand. It was a dagger with a snake entwined around its hilt.

"A dagger with a short blade can only hit at a short range, compared to a whip," Alex said.

Yata stared at him. "Haven't you learnt anything yet?"

"Huh?"

Yata pointed at the dagger firmly held in Kanghui's hand. "Nothing operates in the same way as those in the human world."

"PLACE YOUR BETS EVERYONE!" A voice called out from behind. "FIGHT BETWEEN KANGHUI AND ARAHABAKI! ODDS ARE EQUALISED."

"BETTING ARAHABAKI" someone yelled out from the crowd. "20 SOUL STONES!"

Alex turned around to see a betting table several paces away, with a crowd appearing out of nowhere, and pointed at them. "Like a betting table appearing in the middle of a danger zone?"

"KANGHUI 100 SOUL STONES!"

"ARAHABAKI 50 SOUL STONES!"

"Come, it means that's a safe zone." Yata dragged Alex to the table.

"SAFE?" Alex blurted out.

"Yeah. The betting zone is always safe. The primevals, known as the gods of gambling or business in the human world, are the backers," Yata explained. "That means over ten are establishing the safe zone."

"What the…"

"BETTING ON ARAHABAKI 50 SOUL STONES," yelled Yata unexpectedly as he threw some shimmery translucent stones onto the empty looking table.

The stones disappeared, much to Alex's chagrin. He pointed to the table with a puzzled look.

"Oh, don't worry. It records against our energy signatures," Yata reassured a confused Alex.

"Not that. Never mind, but really WHY ARE YOU BETTING?"

"50/50 chance. Good way of earning soul stones," Yata explained.

"Won't Kanghui be angry? YOU JUST BET ON HER OPPONENT!"

"She doesn't care."

"What if she…" Alex looked at Yata in horror. Where is his loyalty?

"Shhh… watch and learn."

Alex looked at the two - Kanghui and Arahabaki were now levitating mid air. Like a classic Mexican stand off, both were unmoving with the arms folded. Their eyes trained on each other. Not even a flinch.

Then he gazed upwards at Takamagahara, remembering the earlier ruckus Arahabaki caused up there. Will Takemikazuchi strike while the two fought?

"Don't worry, they are also watching and betting up there. Tables appear wherever an audience gathers. No one will interfere." Yata looked upwards at the two islands.

"What if someone up there did for revenge? Like Takemikazuchi, whom Arahabaki annoyed earlier."

Yata scoffed.

"Heh. You really don't know those two well. Both are like cats. Ever interfered in a cat fight? Even Takemikazuchi isn't that dumb."

Alex shook his head in confusion. Nothing made sense to him.

"When two cats are fighting, and someone, be it a human or another cat or even a dog, interferes… their attention turns on the one interfered."

"No way of stopping the fight?"

"Only if you want this crowd to riot," Yata gestured towards the rambunctious audience.

The street was now bustling with more beings turning up from nowhere. Other than the usual animal or insect like features, some had horns protruding out of their foreheads, a sight new to Alex.

"Don't stare at the oni, they don't like it," Yata warned as Alex lowered his gaze.

Oni, the most fearsome creatures in Japanese folklore, were the equivalent of great demons. Yet, unlike the legends, some of their faces were pleasant to look at, instead of the often described gruesome appearances.

As more jostled in to throw their bets onto the table, Alex glanced around as he estimated the size of the growing crown.

From his peripheral vision, he spotted those at the edge of the crowd spilling into the smaller lane ways.

There were probably more than a thousand beings on the streets, from how they jammed packed themselves like sardines in a can.

Betting calls turned into a pandemonium as a rain of soul stones flew from the crowds onto the table.

Yata shook his head as he placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "So don't even try."

"Do these duels happen a lot?"

"Yeah. Almost every day. Different primeval beings, distinct style. Sometimes you get the sky fights too. But these two have not fought for a long time."

"How long?"

"Since I could remember," Yata replied.

A strong gale funneled past the crowd, drawing their attention to where Arahabaki and Kanghui were once standing. If not for the tightly packed bodies, Alex realized he could have flown right into the fight arena.

"BETTING A DRAW. 1000 soul stones."

The crowd gasped at the better. Yata looked around for the one who placed the bet, along with the crowd.

"Draw?" some asked. "We can bet on a draw?"

"With equalised odds - yes," another answered.

"Who is jinxing the rest of us?" A few asked.