The Debt Collector

They didn't just take fingers. They took everything.

Three men in tracksuits stormed the apartment. They smashed the laptop. They overturned the table with the curry—Ai’s curry—spilling it onto the tatami.

"You think you can hide?" the leader, a man with a scar through his eyebrow, sneered. He kicked Kenji in the stomach.

Kenji curled into a ball, wheezing. The pain was blinding. He waited for the cold touch. He waited for the lights to explode. He waited for *her*.

Nothing happened. The room was empty. He had exorcised his only defense.

"This place is too loud," the leader said. "Grab him. Let's go for a walk."

They dragged him out. Kenji’s heels scraped the pavement. The neighbors heard the commotion, but in Tokyo, nobody opens the door.

They marched him into the forest. To the Abandoned Shrine.

It was raining again. The mud was slick. They threw him onto the stone steps where he had performed the ritual.

"Father's debt is three million," the leader said, pulling a collapsible baton from his belt. "We're going to break one bone for every hundred thousand. You do the math."

He brought the baton down on Kenji’s shin.

* CRACK.*

Kenji screamed. The sound tore through the trees, echoing off the stone foxes.

"Please!" Kenji begged. "I'll pay! I'll work!"

"You had your chance."

Another blow. His forearm this time.

Kenji lay in the mud, gasping. He looked at the empty offering box. He looked at the spot where he had spilled his blood.

He realized then what he had done. He had traded a monster who loved him for monsters who wanted to destroy him. He had chosen "normalcy" and "safety" and it was going to get him killed.

Ai hadn't been haunting him. She had been the wall standing between him and the abyss.

"I'm sorry," Kenji whispered into the mud.

The leader raised the baton for a killing blow to the skull.

Kenji spat out the blood in his mouth. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the crumpled receipt for the *Ofuda*, and swallowed it.

He pushed himself up on one trembling arm. He didn't scream for help. He didn't scream for the police.

"Ai!" he roared, his voice breaking. "Come back! I take it back! Come home!"