Chapter 22: 22 – Hunting the Hunter

"Micchi, wait up!"

"Anego!!"

I'm walking ahead of them, ignoring their every attempt to get my attention. "I'm angry at both of you. Don't talk to me."

"But we don't even know what happened last night!" Loraine grabs my hand and pulls me to a stop.

Yui rushes ahead and throws her arms around me. "Whatever we did, we're sorry!"

I have a hard time looking either of them in the eyes. Never would I have thought Loraine would ask Mildred to put that sort of enchantment on my clothes. It seems to only respond to her voice. When I say 'it's playtime' nothing happens.

"You two are staying away from alcohol from now on." I warn, turning my attention back to the forest.

Right behind Horace's farm is the beginning of a wide and expansive forest. He's had wolf problems in the past, but recently their numbers have thinned out. Mayor Oliver believes their absence is due to the elemental wolf marking the area as its territory.

Well, it's about to learn the hard way whose territory it really belongs to.

"How hard is it to find a big dog, anyways?" I ask.

Loraine bends down to grab a handful of the soil. She raises it up to her nose and grimaces at whatever scent she whiffed.

"Elemental wolves may leave behind burn marks along the trees. Certain parts of the forest may feel colder or warmer than other areas. Those are one of the few obvious signs to look out for," Loraine explains.

Yui comes running back to us with a branch burning on one end. "Guys, look what I found—"

A gust of wind blows past us, and a snarling wolf the size of a horse lands between the three of us. Its piercing howl conjures a gale that kicks up dirt and knocks down loose branches. Specks of cinders and frost flake off from its grey mane.

The elemental wolf has found us instead.

I'm about to charge in when Loraine grabs the other end of Sacchan.

"We don't want to kill it, remember?" She says, reminding me of our promise to Frey.

"Watch out!" Yui swings her nunchuck and shocks the ground between us, forcing the wolf to think twice about attacking.

The wolf howls again, engulfing its mane in flames. It turns its attention to Yui and charges at her, but she's too fast for it to chase down. Yui zips to one place, then another almost as though she's teleporting.

Loraine and I are trying to catch up, but their speed is far beyond our ability to keep pace with.

"C'mon, you mangy mutt! Catch me if you can! Ahaha!" Yui taunts.

The wolf forfeits the chase. Raising its nose into the air, it fires off a barrage of fireballs. One of them catches Yui on the leg, causing her to crash to the ground.

Loraine launches a series of her own spells, bombarding the wolf to keep it from getting closer to Yui. 

"I'll distract it. Get to Yui!" she shouts.

I race past the wolf which has gotten into a defensive stance. It retreats behind a tree to avoid the blasts, but Loraine's destructive firepower destroys every hiding place, forcing it further away.

When I get to Yui, her right leg is blistering. She winces in pain, tears welling around her eyes. "Sorry, Anego… I got overconfident."

"Don't sweat it. You leave the rest to me." I throw my jacket on top of Yui.

I'm an idiot. I should have done that from the start. Now Yui's hurt because I fucked up.

Loraine catches up to us and gets to healing Yui. 

Meanwhile, the wolf is keeping a distance now that it knows we bite back. Since it hasn't retreated yet, it must think it can still take us. I don't want to kill the thing, but I ain't letting it hurt Loraine or Yui.

The wolf launches a blast of fire at me. One swing knocks it away, incinerating a tree in its path. I can tell it's going to charge from the way it has its body lowered to the ground.

It's only just as fast as Yui. As long as I can get a hit off, it's done.

Sacchan ignites a deep red, but it suddenly cools down. A layer of ice coalesces on the bat, transforming it into an icicle— no, a spiked bludgeon. I barely get a moment to check out what happened to Sacchan when the wolf howls and charges.

I take a batting stance, but just as I'm about to swing, the wolf comes to a screeching halt.

"What…?" is all I can muster at the abrupt change of events.

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It's tail wags back and forth, staring eagerly at Sacchan with its tongue rolled out. I swing my bat to the right, and the wolf's head snaps right. I swing left, and it snaps left.

"Alright, you stupid dog. If you think you're gonna treat Sacchan like a fetch toy, you've got another thing coming!"

"Arrr…" the wolf tilts its head to one side, whimpering.

It prances around in place expecting me to throw it.

Yui jumps onto my back shouting, "Throw the bat, Anego! Throw it!"

"What the— weren't you on the ground crying just now?" 

"Your jacket stopped the burning, and Loraine healed me right up." she says, rubbing her cheek against mine.

"Get off. I still have the wolf to deal with…" I pry her off and hand her back to Loraine. "Don't let go."

The wolf hasn't moved an inch, and its tail hasn't stopped wagging. Could be the reason it's so interested in my bat is that it's enchanted, wooden, and looks like a stick. Maybe all dogs are just conditioned to like playing fetch.

"I'm serious, you're not getting your slobber on Sacchan. Ya hear me?" I take a step back— a mistake I should've seen coming.

The wolf lunges. I hold out my bat only to have sharp fangs bite onto it. No matter how much I struggle against the wolf, we're stuck in a deadlock. 

"Let go, you stupid—" I notice the tail wagging even more intensely. "I told you, I ain't playing, damn it!"

I really don't want to do this, but...

"Yui, Loraine… duck!" I pivot on my left just as I hear them hit ground, flinging the elemental wolf into the forest with Sacchan in its jaws..

It's sent flying past the trees, the flaming mane making it look like a meteor crashing down to earth. A second later, it comes running back with Sacchan in its mouth and deposits it in my hand. Yui and Loraine are speechless, they make a silent gesture at me to throw the bat again.

I look down at Sacchan and feel a knot in my heart. The only silver lining is that the coat of ice is keeping it safe from the slobber and bite marks.

But…

It just feels so degrading.

Sacchan… I'm sorry, partner…

I throw Sacchan into the forest. Just as we expected, the wolf chases after it and returns a moment later to hand it back to me. The wolf's playful attitude has diffused all the tension in the air.

Yui doesn't hesitate to stroke the wolf's head, fluffing the fur on its face. "Awww, you're so cute! Just the fluffiest, aren't you?"

"In case you forgot, that thing almost burned your legs off." I say, wiping the slobber from Sacchan.

"But he's so cute, I wanna keep him! Anego, pleaaasseee!" she begs with glistening eyes.

"Loraine, what do you think?" I put a hand to my face. Loraine doesn't answer. Instead, she stares enviously at Yui playing with the wolf. "You want to keep it, too. Don't you?"

Loraine clears her throat, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. "Well… I won't go against your decision, but this is one way of resolving the issue without killing him."

I put a finger up to the wolf's pleading face. "I'm a cat person. You ain't swooning me with those eyes like you did them."

It whimpers in response.

"Aw. Micchi, you made him sad." Loraine bends down to pet him, too.

"When the hell did I become the bad guy? Fine. We can keep the stupid wolf!" I shout, throwing my hands up in resignation.

While Yui and Loraine jump for joy, the wolf tackles me to the ground, licking my face. He's got my arms pinned under the paws. "Peh… stop! D-Down? Down boy!"

"Mmrrph… Kawa's not a boy!" An unfamiliar voice grumbles.

"H-Huh?"

I open my eyes to a large humanoid beast that reminds me of Frey— except larger and grey. What was supposed to be a giant wolf on top of me is now a human with wolf-like features. Long, grey hair drapes down her back, two deep blue eyes peek out from the tuft of hair covering her face, and behind her is the very same wagging tail.