One night, in the narrow streets of Tokyotsune, a young tanuki walked hurriedly toward his home, carefully skirting the walls of the houses as cold as the air he breathed. He was clutching the precious medicine his entire family needed as the winter flu ravaged the homes in these troubled times. He considered himself lucky to have been able to buy the last of the remedies and poultices from a pharmacy, but not without having to sacrifice all his savings for his studies as a high civil servant. But to hell with politics, the emperor had just fallen under the pressure of the warlords who were soon preparing to take power again in a country more divided than ever. In any case, the little ones of his kind only had to worry about his own survival and wait for wars and conquests to follow each other between the big ones, hoping for a return to peace.

Distracted by his thoughts, he only noticed too late the presence of three more or less imposing animals that blocked his way. Each of them wore a ridiculously scary tengu mask, almost identical to the others, but the intention that seemed to animate them was much more threatening than the demons they represented. One of them walked up to two steps away from the kid to speak to him in a soft but far too rocky tone to sound nice:

"You have something we're interested in, kid. Would you mind trading it to us for a candy bar?"

The animal was almost two meters tall in front of the tanuki, whose hands shook but clutched their precious cargo even tighter to his chest. The thieves wore wakizashi on their belts, probably stolen from rich merchants. From the looks of it, they were certainly not on their first robbery. Nevertheless, the youngster was not discouraged and answered by raising his head, his chest bulging as he stretched his body to the maximum to gain a certain height that would never match theirs.

"These medicines are for my suffering family. I will not trade them under any circumstances. Now please let me pass."

It took an immeasurable effort to keep his own voice from shaking, but now he could not back down. The giant in front of him did nothing for a long time as if he expected the tanuki to regret his words immediately, but the tanuki remained determined and straight in his geta. Then the thief nodded and breathed a few words in a certain resignation as if the inevitable would happen:

"I understand. But unfortunately, you ran into the wrong people tonight."

The giant engulfed the tanuki's head with one hand and lifted it off the ground. With his muzzle covered by the huge palm, he couldn't shout a word and his little legs quickly flailed in the air. The medicine he was clutching in his arms began to weigh him down with gravity and soon he saw a second large hand reaching up to snatch it from him. He then bent in two before this hand reached him and put his two feet on it to propel himself backwards and free himself from its hold. He then fell heavily on his back while managing to avoid breaking one of the bottles of a precious remedy which he held. He tried to get up but at the same time, a bright blade tinged with moonlight split the air near his head. He immediately felt the cold steel of the wakizashi at the back of his neck as one of the giant's accomplices held him at gunpoint.

"We won't hesitate to use it, kid. In any case, this isn't my friend's first killed kid."

The eyes of the tengu mask of the one who was threatening him with his blade stared at him with an unparalleled intensity, the kid could feel his killing urge.
Irradiated with fear, he shakily reached for his medicine, preparing to make a forced donation. Yet when he looked up, the murderous tengu was looking down the alleyway just like the giant and the third.

The blade that had been threatening him then drew back and stood in the direction the thieves were staring. The tanuki, intrigued, turned his gaze in the same direction and saw a red and yellow glow in the distance, certainly the flame of a lantern held by...
The other two thieves immediately drew their blades from their scabbards and positioned themselves as if they were going to fight.

"Oh, you there! Get out!"

The third tengu who had been silent until then walked up to the lantern bearer and continued to threaten him, but no response came.
Suddenly, the flame of the lantern was transformed into a flash of fire which passed between the three tengu. The latter, as if struck by lightning, stood for a moment and fell almost simultaneously to the ground. For a few seconds, the air seemed to radiate an intense heat that vanished, leaving the cold to reign supreme in the alley. The tanuki didn't see it coming, he only remembered a flash of fire and nothing more. Facing him now was the same lantern whose flickering flame warmed him gently surrounded by the bloody bodies of three lifeless tengus. It was as if the lantern alone had cleansed the alley of these evil spirits.

Bonus: "Fire Flash"