Demonic Dreams

Demons

The rest of the night, I slept shallowly. The chanting was repetitive in my mind, and it annoyed me immensely. I'm sure it was just a plain old dream, just like most. Right?
Right.
I woke up, ready to get into another day of free time. Though it wasn't really free anymore; I chose to babysit for Mrs. Ueda.
Daiki Ueda was young. Five, I believe? So I watched him and made Cho stay home to play with him, though she wasn't very happy.
"You can play with Aiki tomorrow." I promised her, and she hugged Mio tightly.
Cho pouted. "Fine."
"Oh, I know! How about you and Daiki play a game? I need to do some quick research on some things, and I don't want to bore you." I said, changing subject.
Cho's attitude cleared. "Okay! Hey, Daiki-kun...?" The six year old had forgotten about our small disagreement and looked for her friend.
I really did have research.
In Mama's room, there was a small library where she kept books away from Cho. As she was working again today, I snuck into her room.
I browsed her books. They were alphabetized, typical being that Mama was a perfectionist. I found the book I was looking for:
"Japanese Demons and Spirits". We learned the basics of these in school, but there were many others unheard of.
I scrolled through pages, and landed on one that seemed familiar. 'Bakaneko, a shape shifting cat. Known to be either good or evil, but spirits have their own intentions.'
Bakaneko was in Hideyoshi's chant. And what was the other one...?
Flipping through some more pages, I found it.
'Amanojaku, heavenly evil spirit. Demonic creature with no specified form.'
I'd heard of Bakaneko, and the week I had heard about it from Mama I had nightmares. But Amanojaku, that was new.
My remembrance of my dream was cut off when I heard Cho's voice.
"Hey, Mei-chan? Daiki-kun fell..."
When I returned to our main room, I saw Daiki Ueda, his face drenched in blood. He quietly whimpered.
"He hit the wall and got a nosebleed." Cho explained, hugging Mio. "He tripped."
And for the rest of the day, I dealt with bloody little Daiki and annoying Cho.
At least I'd earn some yen from this.