The next morning, with a birdcage full of butterflies in tow, we set off for Mount Fuji. Nothing like having an army of winged shadow-beasts take over your planet to help you appreciate some of the things you used to take for granted—we didn't realize what a time we would have trying to get around.
The main source of transportation in Japan was the train system, which had finally, amidst all the chaos, ceased to operate completely. In fact, most of everything had shut down, with almost no services available. Every once in a while a taxi would drive by, but usually the driver looked way too terrified to pull over. Plus, most of the streets were jammed with cars whose owners had fallen asleep while driving.
Therefore, our immediate challenge was to get to the mountain in the first place. And for that, Tanaka had no qualms about stealing a car from one of its sleeping owners.
“Jeez, Tanaka,” I said as he pulled a nice sleeping gentleman out of a shiny red car so small I thought we'd never fit the butterflies in the backseat. “You really have become a thief in your old age.”
“Ah, Jimmy-san,” he said with a grunt as he practically threw the man onto the sidewalk, “you no worry. Things like that matter nothing, now. You think Sleepyhead here complain when we save him from Stompers?”
“Good point,” I said, and meant it.
We put the items needed for our plan in the trunk, helped Hood into the backseat with the okisaru and then took off toward the mountain, with Tanaka driving like a drunken senior citizen. He swerved around the many stopped cars, often having to go onto the sidewalk to get around them. Several times he honked, knowing full well that it would do no good. I wished over and over that I could take over the wheel, even though it would be my first time ever.
It wasn't long before we came to our next obstacle.
Gas. It got low just as we were reaching the outskirts of the main city.
We pulled into a gas station, but it was abandoned, just like the rest we had seen. Thanks to modern technology, we couldn't get it to work without the whole place up and running. Even if the automatic part for which you used a credit card had been working, none of us had one anyway. Tanaka mumbled something about how he would never trust a bank with his money.
“Yeah,” I said, “I'm sure they were just knocking your door down every day to get to all your money too.”
“What, that another funny Jimmy joke?” he asked. “Tanaka have more money than you dream about, stinky pants. Now, let me show you how smart I am.”
He motioned for Hood to get out of the backseat, carrying the butterflies, and then Tanaka got our stuff out of the trunk. We followed him as he went to look into some of the cars around us in the streets. Soon, he yelled out.
“This one almost full!”
“Wow,” I said as we got into the new car, a silver one that was a little bigger. “You really are smart to figure out we should switch cars when the other one runs out of gas.” I smiled to let him know I didn't really mean to be such a smart aleck—I was just mad that I didn't think of it first.
“Oh, yes,” he replied. “Uncle Tanaka very smart. Very smart man.”
And so it was that we sped out of the city, heading toward the distant, snowcapped mountain that I had seen in a million pictures. Its upside-down conical shape was so familiar, and yet it was hard to believe I was actually looking at it in real life. It was much more impressive up close and personal. The further we got from the city, the fewer cars there were to swerve around, and so my stomach settled a bit, and I got very drowsy.
A thought hit me. “Why didn't we just use the Bender Ring to get there?”
Tanaka looked back at Hood, and then he answered for him. “We still not sure exactly where to go, so the Ring not much help.”
“It could've at least gotten us close to it,” I said.
“But maybe no cars up there, neh?”
“Yeah, I guess you're right. Mind if I sleep a little?”
“You go right ahead. Watch out for Stompers!”
It was meant to be a joke, but it made me ill. The last thing I remembered before sleep was Tanaka laughing in his usual nerve-grinding way, but I was so tired I didn't care.
When I woke up, Tanaka and Hood were standing outside in front of the car, looking at something in the distance. We were parked on the side of a narrow road, a towering wall of green to our left, an incredible view of the city to our right. The sun was high in the afternoon sky, but you could barely see it through the gray stain of the Ka.
I rubbed my eyes, and wondered how long I'd been asleep. It felt like forever, but it seemed I was more tired than when I started. Groggy and a little dizzy, I opened the door and got out.
“What're you guys looking at?”
“Jimmy-san,” Tanaka said, “do you remember your Papa Fincher talk about how he can sense the Shadow Ka? The black haze?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, very dark haze over there.”
He pointed up ahead, where the road curved back toward the city to go around a massive cliff that jutted out from the main mountain. In the middle of the cliff side facing us, a long waterfall fell from a large crevice near the top. It widened as it fell until it was thirty or forty feet at the bottom, where it smashed into some rocks before flowing under a bridge and down toward the city.
Above the waterfall, the cloudy haze of the Shadow Ka was thicker, like a brewing storm cloud, dark and gloomy. Tendrils of black mist hung from the cloud like moss, reaching for the bottom of the waterfall.
“So … you think that's where they are?” I asked.
Hood knelt down and painted a few words on the pavement.
“WE'VE BEEN DRIVING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN FOR TWO HOURS. THE GRAYNESS IS STRONGEST HERE.”
A chill went up my back as the reality of what we had set out to do sunk in. Until that moment, it had almost been like a fun day trip with two very strange friends. I was almost enjoying the adventure of it. But seeing that darkness again, knowing what terrible things it represented, brought back the fear and the panic.
“So … what do we do?”
Tanaka laughed. “We drive over there and go hiking.”
“I was afraid you would say that.”
As we got back in the car, I thought to voice a question I'd been scared to ask for a long time.
“Hood,” I said as I turned in my seat to face him, “A long time ago, when we were in the mountains looking for you after the Pointing Finger, Rayna told me there was something … special about you. She made it clear that I shouldn't look at you without your robe.”
Hood shifted in his seat, as if the conversation had given him a bad case of hemorrhoids. Tanaka put the car into drive and pulled back onto the road, heading for the waterfall up ahead.
“Well,” I continued, “granted, I wasn't particularly excited to see you naked, but I got the feeling that wasn't the reason Rayna made me stay back. Plus, I'm sure you have other clothes on under that thing.” I paused. “Uh … right?”
Hood shifted again, facing the window to his right.
“Okay, forget the whole naked thing—just tell me, or Tanaka, you tell me. What's up with Hood? Who is he really and why does he wear the robe?”
Tanaka said nothing, and stared straight ahead.
“Tanaka, come on. It's gotta be something really weird to shut you up like that.”
“Not my decision,” he replied. “You talk to Hood, leave me out.”
“Hood?” I turned to him again. I didn't want to be rude, but he had become such a close friend, I felt I deserved to know the truth. Hood's pale hand appeared out of the folds of his robe, and he gripped the Bender Ring at his side like a security blanket. Then he reached forward and patted Tanaka on the shoulder.
Understanding Hood's signal that it was okay to tell me the secret, Tanaka sighed. He slowed the car down a bit and then spoke two words with a soft whisper.
“He dead.”
Tanaka looked back to the road ahead of him, and said nothing more. His words skidded through my brain for a few seconds but made no sense.
“Dead?” I asked. “What do you mean?” I let out a courtesy laugh, trying to force Tanaka to tell me he was just kidding. His face didn't crack a bit, and he turned to me, his expression solemn and cold.
“Jimmy-san. The Hooded One is a ghost.”