There were two men huddled in a corner of a dark room, surreptitiously whispering even though there weren’t anyone else nearby. No one knew they were there, for they were Nowhere. A place that was neither found in Time nor Space, the room was small, a basic cube, and it sat within a bigger cube, and another, and another… They did not care about how many rooms there were, just knowing that each cube had a door that led further into Nowhere was enough.
They were talking about a Professor who had snared their attention. Ueno Hidesaburo Sensei of the Imperial University. The Keepers of Darkness were not concerned about who this Professor was. They just needed him taken care of. Their whispers scratched the air with static electricity for hours and days, but it did not matter, for they were Nowhere. As they concluded their machination, they knew that it was Ehta who would have to take on the job. She was patient and tidy, full of glam. She was also famous in her various guises, and enjoyed fame.
She needed the fame to make her stronger. Already a demigod in different aspects, she has people talking about her, worshipping her, praying to her for all sorts. The two men knew that it was only a matter of time before she would be stronger than her oldest sibling, An.
In the city that was buzzing with new technology, electricity, Ehta scoured the streets to find inspiration for a vessel, a new guise. The people were polite, soft-spoken and very organised. She did not fear men, for she knew that they were easy to control, as long as she did not make any mistakes. That was why she hated language. She always preferred to reach down to the essence of humanity, to its core, manipulating people’s instincts instead. Words were too flimsy.
She saw her quarry, and she knew that it would be perfect. The bitch was already pregnant with seven pups. She would be the eight, an omen, definitely. Without hesitation, she approached the bitch, as it whimpered in fear. Animals were always better at sensing her approach than humans, their instincts not blunt from ego and knowledge.
She reached into the bitch’s mind, negotiating a safe passage across the planes. “In return,” she told the bitch, “I will not hurt you, or any of your pups. You are not my concern today.” The bitch complied and allowed her into her womb, as an eight-pup ready to be delivered. It was only a two-day wait for Ehta before she saw sunlight through the eyes of a dog.
They nicknamed her ‘the eight kid’ — Hachiko. A golden-brown pup of Akita breed, Ehta relaxed in her first weeks in this new form, and enjoyed being nurtured by the bitch. She knew, she had time yet.
Ehta, as Hachiko, was nearly three months old when she strolled to Ueno Hidesaburo Sensei’s home near Shibuya. An agriculture professor, she knew that the guise of a lost puppy was perfect in enticing him. Being a true gentleman, Ueno Sensei brought the pup to its rightful owner and they exchanged some words about the inquisitive dog, Hachiko. Before the sun set on that faithful day, Hachiko returned with Ueno Sensei, etching the beginnings of the story that would be revered and repeated for generations to come. Hachiko the faithful dog has been adopted and had found its new loving owner.
The next months were a tedious but necessary period for Ehta in collecting intelligence. Ueno Sensei was at a breakthrough with his research on arable land, making headway in discoveries that would allow Japan to flourish as an agricultural country. His position in the Imperial University meant that his findings would reach the Emperor’s ears, were he less humble. His humility meant that he would share his research with no one, until he was sure of the results.
Without knowing it, he did share his work with someone, and that was Ehta, in the guise of Hachiko. The dog seemed intelligent to Ueno Sensei. Quick to learn of the professor’s habits, the dog seemed to understand the professor’s needs and sought to make his life easier, and more comfortable. Proving itself to be a loyal companion, the dog followed Ueno Sensei to the train station every morning, a simple gesture to see him off to school, and waited at the station in the evenings for his return. Hachiko never missed a day.
What Ueno did not know was that Ehta was also monitoring intelligence from the Kempeitai, specifically the buntai that was currently based in Toba-shi in Mie prefecture. Shocho Kato Kenichii was setting up the new Kempeitai base that would prove to be the linchpin in a series of events seventeen years from then. This was what the Keepers of Darkness was protecting.
Every day, after Hachiko would accompany Ueno Sensei to Shibuya Station, it would head towards the marketplace where Ehta knew of a Kempeitai secret base. It was only ever manned by one officer at a time, as it was just a communications base. The officer would sit in a small shed at the back of a fruit stall and kept a radio switched to the Kempeitai band, noting down communications that were happening throughout Japan. Here, Hachiko would sit either inside the fruit stall or outside it, near the back, and listen in. The guise of a dog coming in handy with its improved hearing sense.
When the officer would change shifts, welcoming a new officer for the evening, Hachiko would know to head to Shibuya Station, to wait for Ueno Sensei like the faithful dog it is. This ritual went on for more than half a year before Ehta learnt of new developments.
The professor was anxious, excited about a new location that would help confirm his hypotheses. Ehta knew that it was in Toba-shi in Mie prefecture before he told her. Babbling at Hachiko every evening, Ueno Sensei boasted about his work to his only true companion, thinking nothing of it. But Ehta knew that it meant that it was time for her to take action.
For nearly another year, Ehta continued the Hachiko faithful dog ritual. Every morning, she would walk Ueno Sensei to Shibuya Station, and every evening, she would sit and wait for his arrival. At home, she would listen to his chatters about the day, but one thing changed.
As Ueno Sensei slept in the night, Ehta would go to work. She would plant horrible dreams inspired by her colourful past in reaping souls in his mind, that would slowly eat away his brains. A perfectionist, Ehta wanted the effects to be timed accurately, not too early nor too late.
In his dreams, Ueno Sensei saw what would be the future of the world, and the past so long ago that there was nothing but darkness, but he would not be able to make any sense of them. All he knew, was that he was scared, more frightened than he ever was in his life. His biggest relief was when he awoke each time and saw Hachiko’s sad dog eyes staring at him, as if it knew of his pain. Every morning, he would cuddle the dog and tell it of his dreams, and whilst Hachiko listened intently, even whimpering on cue, Ehta would laugh inside, basking in the glory of her success to come.
In April 1924, Ehta heard through the Kempeitai communications that a new troop member was initiated into its Toba-shi base. His name was Yamamoto Shuhei. It was this name that triggered her next steps, to complete her mission.
In May 1924, Ueno Hidesaburo Sensei died of cerebral haemorrhage whilst lecturing a class. Hachiko had seen him to Shibuya Station in the morning, but he did not make it back that evening.
Ehta knew that the news of Ueno Sensei’s death had to be suppressed in some way so that his colleagues would not pick-up on his work, which would have been revolutionary. If found by the government, the success that the arable land research would bring, would take priority over the need of a Kempeitai base — the need for Japan to postulate itself as a military power in the world when they could lead through agriculture and economy instead — which would bring about a change that would threaten history itself. And the Keepers of Darkness would not have that.
Ehta knew that the politics at the university would handle itself, since most professors would push for their own research to be made priority before digging up a dead professor’s work. However, she needed the general talk to move away from what the professor did. So, she manipulated humanity at its core, as she had promised to do.
Ehta continued Hachiko’s ritual, going to Shibuya Station every evening to wait for the dead professor who never returned. The community soon spotted the ritual and lapped it up. The talk went from the dead professor, to the dead professor’s loyal dog. His life and what he did, to be forever shadowed by the actions of his dog.
Even though Ehta knew that she was already successful in her mission, she kept up the ritual as she basked in her newfound fame as a dog. Realising the potential for another immortalisation, she played on for another nine years. This was long enough for the Kempeitai troop member, Yamamoto Shuhei to be promoted to Chu-i, clearly on his way to becoming a Shocho within the next eight years.
Near the end of Hachiko’s life, Ehta allowed herself to enjoy and reap the benefits of another successful mission, as she was pampered and worshipped by the community. Not knowing the full extent of her mastery, Ehta was confident that she would have acquired new followers as Hachiko that would strengthen her for a few years to come. She did not expect that she would be idolised and immortalised even a decade on. Her newfound fame and legend had pushed her above her siblings, giving her the ultimate position with the Keepers of Darkness.
In the room within rooms, the scraping whispers of the two men huddled in the corner changed into croaky laughter, as they knew that the Darkness had been protected. From Nowhere, they opened a window to peer into the world that Ehta had been sent to preserve. It was December, 1941 in Japan.
Shocho Yamamoto Shuhei stood in a clean room in Toba-shi, with a telephone to his ear. As he confidently repeated the attack codes, the person at the end of the line stood baffled. Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, he had never thought that he would receive orders from a Shocho of the Kempeitai. However, the codes were accurate and the orders were clear.
Shocho Yamamoto Shuhei stood smiling as he heard the words, “Hai, wakarimashita”. Hanging up the phone, he turned up his radio that was set to an American news station, waiting expectantly for news that the United States naval base, Pearl Harbor has been destroyed.
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