Free A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe

then up at Takeo, offering a shaky smile.
    “Oh, it’s just Mitsuoka,” Chiyo said with a wave of her hand. “He’s the class weirdo, but he’s good for a laugh sometimes. Nothing to be worried about anyway.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve decided to join my league of ‘admirers.’”
    Haru’s expression had tensed. He clearly didn’t take that possibility lightly.
    “I was just wondering what was up with these two,” the boy said, gesturing to me and Takeo. He looked past us to Chiyo and added in the same flippant tone, “You know, you really should be more careful with your magical powers, Ikeda. I thought that—whatever it was—was going to pulverize me.”
    “The matters we’re discussing don’t concern you,” Takeo said. “It would be best if you left now.”
    “Don’t concern me?” the boy said. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who just said the whole world is in grave danger. Last time I checked, I live here too.”
    “I guess this story is better than your comic books, huh?” Chiyo said. “But the guy with the big sword said go, so you should probably listen to him.” She managed to sound both warning and cheerful at the same time.
    The boy tightened the knot of his tie and raised his chin. “No,” he said. “Apparently kami are real and Mt. Fuji’s been taken over by evil ghosts, and the world might end if we don’t stop them. I’m not going to just walk away. Maybe I can help. I might not have some secret magical power, but this is my area of expertise. I’ve read about ghosts and ogres and just about every supernatural being there is. I might have heard things none of the rest of you have—things you could use.”
    “You think you know more about kami than kami do?” Haru demanded.
    “No,” the boy replied. “But give me an hour and I can come up with a list of all the ways demons have ever been recorded being defeated, or what protections work so well against ghosts even regular people can use them, or anything else that’ll give you an edge.”
    Standing there, sweat-damp and defiant, he looked a little ridiculous, especially with Takeo in his formal guard attire towering over him. But the determination on his face and the conviction in his words plucked a chord deep inside me, a sound I hadn’t known I was longing to hear. And there probably were human stories about ghosts and demons the kami didn’t know that contained some truth.
    “Takeo,” I said, “he’s already heard so much. If he wants to try to help, why can’t we let him? Don’t we need all the help we can get, kami or not?”
    Takeo turned to me, and a flicker of confusion passed over his handsome face, as if he hadn’t seen me in so long he almost didn’t recognize me. But that wasn’t it. A prickling ran down through me to my bones. He was finally realizing that I was just as human as the boy in front of him. I made myself smile.
    “You’re right,” Takeo said after a moment of silence. He lowered his sword and sheathed it. “Of course you’re right. That is, as long as you—” He glanced at Chiyo.
    She shrugged. “The more the merrier, I guess. As long as he doesn’t get pushy with me.” From my brief observations of her classroom, I suspected that was a problem she encountered a lot.
    “He’d better not,” Haru said.
    The boy swept into a low bow, snatching at his glasses the instant before they slid off his nose. “It is my pleasure simply to be of service,” he intoned. But when he straightened up, he was looking at me with open curiosity. I had the conflicting urges to drop my gaze and to stare back at him until he dropped his. His eyes were bright brown, like copper in the sun. They studied me so intently my pulse skipped.
    “Keiji Mitsuoka,” he said. “You can call me Keiji. Thank you.”
    “You should thank Chiyo,” I said. “It was her decision.”
    After all, I didn’t have any authority now. The real daughter of Mt. Fuji’s