The little yokai danced around Azuki's workroom. They popped into being and vanished, grew and shrank and adopted the most interesting, not to say amazing (though usually bipedal) forms. Some had tools for heads, some sported vegetables. Another grew an out-of-season hydrangea blossom that twirled in circles as it danced.

She laughed. Akira, the Eagle-boy, had said they were his friends. Whatever they were, he told her they seemed able to carry messages for him and to him. These ...