Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Jin’s POV
   “You can stop it with the falsetto voice. No matter how hard you try, you still sound like a woman.” Jin tells Yamauchi.

   The servant called Marika lets out another gasp. This time, however, it’s one of horror instead of anger.

   Yamauchi sighs.

   “Oh well, at least I tried.” she says using her real voice.

   “So, can you start explaining things to me?” Jin asks.

   “Of course. What would you like to know first?”

   Jin looks at Marika.

   “Before I start asking, how much does she knows?”

   “Pretty much everything. Don’t worry, Marika here is trustworthy.” Yamauchi assures.

   “Does she even knows the fact that you have a pair of fox ears and six fox tails?”

   Another gasp of horror from Marika.

   “Did you let them out again, Shuzo-sama?” she asks the woman beyond the curtain.

   “Of course not, I’m not always that careless.”

   “Then how did he know?”

   “How indeed. May I know your method, warrior?”

   “I activated a spell that allows me to see through illusions.” Jin explains.

   “I see. That explains a lot. Raise up the curtain, Marika.”

   “Is that wise, madame?”

   “If he wanted to do something to me, he would have done it the moment he’s inside the room.”

   Marika raises up the curtain as told. Sitting beyond it is, as Jin has expected, a woman. Her hair is blonde, and her fox ears and six tails are golden in color as well. She’s wearing the white robe and red long pants that all onmyojis wear. There are two wooden stools on her left with a square wooden tray on each of them. One has a a tea pot and a tea cup made of clay, while the other has a plate of inari sushi on it.

   “You’re Tamamo No Mae, aren’t you?” Jin asks.

   “That I am.”

   “I need a proper explanation.”

   “Of course. You might want to sit down. This might take a while.”

   Jin sits down cross-legged on the floor.

   “It all started when I disguised myself as a human child and got adopted by a pair of-”

   “Pardon me, can you just get to the important part?” Jin interrupts.

   “How dare you, insolent whelp! She’s telling you her life story! You should listen gratefully!” Marika rages.

   Jin looks at her, then at Fox Lady.

   “Can your servant leave this room? I doubt we can have a proper conversation with her around.” he requests.

   “Granted. Please leave us until I call for you again, Marika.”

   “Madame, you can’t be serious!”

   “I’m sorry Marika. He’s the guest here, not to mention he did us all a huge favor today. I have to humor him this much.”

   “...Understood. I shall take my leave, then.”

   Marika leaves the room obediently, all the while glaring at Jin.

   “Now then, where were we?” Fox Lady asks Jin after the servant has left.

   Jin checks his phone before answering. No text and no missed call. It’s either the girls are doing well and doesn’t need his help, or something has happened to them. Jin hopes that it’s the former.

   “You were about to tell me the part about how you became the Head of the family that leads the onmyojis.” Jin reminds her.

   “Ah, yes. Before that, would you like something to eat? Some inari sushi, perhaps?” she offers.

   “No thanks. I never liked those stuff.” Jin declines.

   “You don’t like inari sushi? You’re missing out a lot.”

   She picks up one of the sushi and pops it into her mouth. While chewing, she shows an expression of absolute bliss.

   “I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s with you foxes and fried bean curd skins?” Jin asks.

   “Whatever do you mean by that? It was decided by your ancestors.”

   “It was?”

   “Of course. The appearance of youkais, foxes liking bean curd skins, all this happened because you humans wished for it. Back then, your kind barely have any explanation for most of the disasters that happened to you, so you shifted the blames on things that don’t exist. With that, us youkais were born.”

   “So we’re suffering from youkais since our imagination got the better of us. The irony.”

   “Indeed. A lot of you modern humans refused to pray since you think Gods don’t exist, even though it was you who created us youkais in the first place. Well, this is an interesting topic that we shall discuss on another day. Back to my story.”

   “Please go ahead.”

   “I think it was on my third reincarnation. My soul has somehow split itself into two. One has went off somewhere, and the other has went inside an unborn child of the Yamauchi family. Needless to say, I’m that unborn child. I had all my past memories, but only half my powers. My hatred towards the humans is also gone.”

   “So, your other half have the remaining of your powers, and she’s the one who hates us humans with all her might.”

   “That’s right. And she had been trying to absorb me so that she could be at 100% of her power and destroy mankind.”

   “Which is why the youkais were looking for you.”

   She nods in confirmation.

   “How many times have you reincarnated after your soul have split itself into two?”

   “This is my sixth reincarnation. Hence the number of my tails.”

   “And you’ve somehow reincarnated as someone from the Yamauchi family every single time.”

   “It’s not somehow. I get to choose where I want to reincarnate.”

   “Wait, does that mean that the other you can do the same?”

   “Naturally.”

   “So she could be somewhere near you.”

   “Nope. That much I’m sure. I can detect her right away since we’re the two halves of the same being. She did try to be more aggressive for the first few times. However, she’s inside the enemy camp, so she got exorcised the moment she came near me. Ever since then, she got more careful and made sure to only sent her underlings.”

   “Based on what you said just now, I have two questions.”

   “Ask away.”

   “First, how many people knows your true identity?”

   “Only a selected few from the Yamauchi family. It has been decided that less than a total of ten people are allowed to know my true identity.”

   “By whom?”

   “Myself, along with the first group of onmyojis that bears the Yamauchi name. We made a deal with each other, you see. I’ll help them with stopping youkais from coming over this world, and they’ll protect me from the youkais, or more specifically, the other me.”

   “I see. Next, why are you banning girls and women from becoming onmyojis?”

   She shows a guilty expression. She could probably tell where Jin is going with this.

   “I was worried that my other half will plot something against me once she has raised above the ranks.”

   “And you even went so far as to stop the Ichihara family from retrieving the body of one of their own.”

   She hangs her head.

   “That’s right. I’m a cold-blooded coward.” she admits.

   “Well, at least you’re feeling guilty about it. But why didn’t you ban them completely from practising onmyo-jutsu? That way, your threat will decrease even more.”

   “If it’s one thing I learned about the humans after spending so much time with them, it’s that the more you forbid them to do something, the more they’ll do it. Hence, I didn’t bother.”

   “That’s…surprisingly true.”

   “Right? As to prove my point-”

   She picks up the plate that has the inari sushis on it.

   “You’re not allowed to eat these.” she tells him.

   “Sure. I don’t care.”

   She stares at him with wide eyes.

   “This is impossible…” she whispers.

   “Look, you’re not as well-accustomed to human behaviour as you think. That theory of yours only applies to things that people actually want to do.”

   She puts the plate back to its original place.

   “I see, I’ve learned something new today.”

   “By the way, are you going to continue with keeping your true identity a secret?”

   “Of course I am. What if the onmyojis decide to exorcise me once they find out who I really am?”

   Jin sighs.

   “Look, I’m not going to lecture you on how to run your organization, but trust works both ways. If you want them to take care of your evil half for you, the least you could do is tell them the truth about yourself.”

   “But, I’m scared…”

   She touches her neck with trembling hands.

   “Every once in a while, I remember the sensation of the blade that separated my head from my neck when I died for the first time.” she whispers. “That was my first gruesome death, and I don’t intend to die after being killed again.”

   According to the legend, Tamamo No Mae was killed by an archer called Miuranosuke while she was in her fox form. She was shot with two arrows, then beheaded with a sword.

   “What about me, then? Why did you trust me and told me everything?”

   “You don’t give off the aura of someone who’ll just leave once being told to do so.”

   “...Fair enough.”

   Jin’s phone rings. It’s Estyshana.

   “Hello?”

   “We’re done with cleaning up on very single Kanji shrine. Right now, we’re back at Kameda.” the demon reports.

   “Don’t you mean Kanto?”

   “Whatever. What about you?”

   “I’m done on my side too. Is anyone hurt?”

   “No. There were a lot of them, but most of them were pushovers. No big deal.”

   She pauses.

   “Well, our team is fine. The onmyojis and the onis suffered quite a lot of losses. At least, Ichihara told me so. And oh, did you know that it was her elder brother who opened the portal that leads to the youkai world?”

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   “...What?”

   “It’s true. Some onmyojis caught him as he was trying to run away. After he got caught, he confessed to everything.”

   “Wow. I thought he was just a weakling. I didn’t know that he had it in him.”

   “Actually, it probably wasn’t his idea alone.”

   “What do you mean?”

   “The onmyojis said that he has traces of being possessed by an evil spirit. Most likely, the evil spirit was the one who planted the idea on his head.”

   “Tengu, huh?”

   “Are you sure that it’s him? It could be any other random evil spirit.”

   “I highly doubt it. Possessing Ichihara’s brother aside, it’s definitely not a regular spirit if it could sneak inside a shrine while lots of onmyojis are around.”

   “...Oh, what’s that? You want to speak with him? Hey, Ichihara wants to speak to you.”

   “Sure, hand your phone to her.”

   “Um, where exactly are you right now, Minase-kun?” Jin hears Ayumi’s voice asks.

   “Inside Yamauchi Shuzo’s room.” he answers honestly.

   He hears her hyperventilating on the other side of the phone.

   “So it was true. I thought I misheard it when the onmyojis over there told us about it using shikigami. Minase-kun, you’re not saying anything rude to that person, are you?” she tells him as calmly as she could.

   “Oh, don’t you worry. I’m just here to ask some questions, that’s all.”

   “Well, I guess that much is fine. Please remember to mind your language.”

   “Yes, yes. Is there anything else?”

   “No, that’s it.”

   “Okay. I’ll hang up since I was still in the middle of conversation.”

   “...Yes. Please come back soon.”

   She sound quite depressed. She’s probably hurt that her elder brother has basically betrayed all of them.

   “...Why didn’t you tell her?” Fox Lady asks Jin once he put away his phone.

   He shrugs. “I’m not a tell-tale. Also, I figured that it’s better for you to tell them.”

   “What if I choose not to?”

   “That’s up to you. Here’s the thing, though. If you can feel guilty about abandoning Ichihara’s elder sister, you’ll do the right thing here and end up telling everyone the truth.”

   She hangs her head again.

   “Please give me some time to think it over.” she pleads.

   “Sure. Like I said, it’s up to you in the end. Until you finally decide to reveal everything, I’ll keep the secret for you.”

   “Thank you.” she tells him gratefully.

   “Don’t mention it.”

   Jin’s phone rings again. It’s Sergeant Wakaba this time.

   “Is something wrong, Sergeant Wakaba?” he asks.

   “How well-versed are you about the creatures of Ifezan?”

   “Hmm, I would say I’m quite knowledgeable about them. Why do you ask?”

   “We’ve received reports about people witnessing some kappas running towards the nearest river.”

   “Kappas, you say?”

   “That’s right. You know those from the folklore, right? Sharp beak, webbed limbs, and a plate on the head.”

   “Nope. I have never seen any kappas while I was at Ifezan.”

   “I was afraid that you were going to say that. Assuming that the one who reported this wasn’t hallucinating, we’re going to have more troubles from now on.”

   “I guess we do.”

   “...Say, aren’t you being way too calm?”

   “Whatever are you talking about? This is how I always act, isn’t it?”

   “Not, it’s not. You don’t sound surprised at all. As if you already knew about the kappas.”

   “Don’t worry, Sergeant Wakaba. Someone will tell you everything you need to know one of these days.” he assures her.

   “And you’re not that person?”

   “No. It’s going to be someone else.” Jin says while looking at Fox Lady.

   “I see. Well, I guess if you’re not telling me right away, it’s not that important.”

   “I’m glad that you’re such an understanding person.”

   “There you have it. You have more explanations to do.” Jin tells Fox Lady as soon as the call was disconnected.

   “At least that part is easier.”

   “Trust me, it won’t.”

   “How so?”

   “I’m speaking from experience. The moment you let the words out that there’s actually youkais in this world, the public will fume about the fact that you had been hiding their existence for so long. They’ll riot, oppose everything you do, and basically be a major pain.”

   “So nothing has changed, even after all these millenniums.”

   “I’m afraid not. Humans do evolve and grow up, but they always act the same whenever they see something that they don’t understand.”

   She sighs. “The troubles are going to keep on piling up, aren’t they?”

   “Which is why you need the trust of your subordinates more than ever. You need to filter out those who refuse to follow you as soon as possible.”

   “You’re on my side, right?” Fox Lady asks with a hopeful look.

   “I am, don’t you worry.”

   He pauses.

   “Unless you got absorbed by your evil side.”

   “Right. I hope it will never happen.”

   Jin gets up from where he’s sitting.

   “Well, I’m leaving. It’s getting late, after all.” he tells her.

   Fox Lady bows at him.

   “Thank you for your help tonight. I sincerely hope that we can work together like this from now on.”

   “Likewise.”

   Fox Lady turns back to her human form. The transformation took less than two seconds to complete.

   “Before you leave, can you pull down the curtain for me?” she requests.

   “I believe this is the time when you’re supposed to do it yourself.”

   “I would love to, but I have been kneeling for so long my legs have gone numb.”

   Jin sighs and did it for her. The guards are still there when he opens the door, so does the servant Marika. Jin ignores all of them and flies back to Kameda by using wind magic.

   The situation of Kameda is around the same as Fushimi: battle-torn and blood and corpses everywhere. After Jin has landed, he walks past the courtyard and heads inside the shrine.

   The interior of the shrine is even more battle-torn than outside, probably because the portal was inside one of the rooms. Paper doors are wrecked, the floor are dirty with blood, and more corpses are seen.

   “Over here, Minase-kun!”

   Jin turns his neck and sees Ichihara waving at him.

   “So, what exactly did you ask Shizo-sama?” she asks him nervously when he walk closer to her.

   “Lots of things.” he answers ambiguously.

   “Are you hiding something from me?”

   “I would prefer it if you say that I’m keeping secrets.”

   “That’s the same thing.” she points out.

   “Not really. When you said hide, you make it sound like I’m the bad guy here. I’m not keeping secrets because I want to. Rather, I have to keep it so that the truth is protected, at least for now.”

   “Is the truth that bad?”

   “It depends on your viewpoint.”

   “...You’re not going to give me a straight answer, are you?”

   “I’m afraid not.”

   “Fine. I give up. Follow me.”

   Jin follows her while keeping his armor inside his Vault. She brings him to the same guest room she brought him before.

   Surprisingly, this room was not affected by the earlier battle at all and still looks the same. The Graylock sisters, Meiko and Estyshana are all resting inside.

   Jin’s eyes inevitably goes to Estyshana to confirm that she really is unhurt. The demon notices him staring and gives him a look as if to emphasize that she’s indeed fine. Jin looks at Meiko next.

   “How are you faring, Meiko?” he asks her.

   “I’m quite fine, thank you. This is my first time to ever join a battle, but still.” she informs him.

   “Wait, seriously? This is your first battle?”

   “Yes. My father always refused to allow me to take part in battles since he’s worried about me.”

   “Wow. I’m surprised that he actually let you take part in this one.”

   “He was finally convinced that I have to take an active part in the fighting in order for me to mature.”

   “How was your first battle, then? Were you nervous?”

   “Nervous is a little bit of an understatement. It was so nerve-wrecking that I thought my heart was going to stop anytime. I’m just glad that everyone was there to support me and give me advice. Ichihara-san especially took good care of me.”

   Jin looks at Ayumi while refraining himself from smiling.

   “...If you have something to tell me, you can just say it right to my face, Minase-kun.”

   “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing important.”

   “Then stop looking at me like that.”

   “Anyway, don’t worry too much about it. You’ll get used to it when you go out and fight some more. For now, we should get some well-earned rest. We’ll never know when the next attack is coming, after all.”

   And with that, all of them are dismissed.

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