Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Jin’s POV
   As the time for the onmyoji’s gathering is getting close and closer, the others have decided to stop their training and take a second bath. Halfway through, Jin and Estyshana have rejoined them, which is why the session was more fruitful when they weren’t.

   “Whew, that was a good training session!” Aldenia exhales after taking a few sips of her sports drink.

   “I haven’t had a good workout for a long time too. I’m really glad that all of you are here with me today.” Ayumi says gratefully.

   “Haven’t you been sparring with other onmyojis inside the shrine?”

   “Almost never. Technically, I’m not even allowed to hold a weapon nor draw talismans. The only reason my sister and I were allowed to receive training as onmyojis are because of our grandfather. As such, the two of us only practiced among each other.”

   She lets out a melancholy sigh.

   “And then she passed away…” she murmurs.

   Upon hearing that, Meiko starts to bow at Ayumi continuously.

   “I’m sorry for what my father did to your elder sister! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” she tells her frantically.

   “Why are you apologizing? You didn’t take part in killing my sister, so you shouldn’t apologize to me.”

   “But-”

   Ayumi acted like she wanted to flick Meiko’s forehead, but her horns are in the way. As such, she settled with giving her a karate chop on her head.

   “Ow.” Meiko squeaks.

   “I said you don’t have to apologize, and that’s final. Stop being so persistent about it.” Ayumi chides.

   “Y-Yes, I’m sorry.”

   “You’re apologizing again!”

   “Eep!”

   “Now come on, let’s go to the bathroom and take a bath again.” Ayumi invites.

   Meiko brightens up at once.

   “Yes! Right behind you!”

   Audrey, Aldenia and Estyshana follow as well, leaving Jin all alone. Since he’s bored, he decided to call Sergeant Wakaba to ask about the gang members that Jin caught.

   “All of them have died.” she reports.

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   “I wasn’t there when it happened since I had to go to the toilet., but Date-kun was. According to him, all five of them exploded violently without a single warning. By the time I got back, well, let’s just say that the cleaners will have a tough time cleaning the interrogation room. They might also need to attend some therapy sessions after they’re done.”

   “How about Officer Date?”

   “To make it sound as less grotesque as possible, he was covered in blood. He’s taking a bath right now.”

   “I see. Did the kidnappers said anything useful before they died?”

   “Date-kun told me that a person who wears a gas mask and a black trench coat gave them some syringes which contained some kind of red liquid. After they injected themselves with it, they could use magic after receiving some simple instructions.”

   “Simple instructions?”

   “They were told to make some specific grunting and snarling sounds that made no sense to them. Now that I think about it, the one who burned the police car with his fireballs were making those kind of sounds too.”

   “...Is there any chance that those sounds are similar to the sounds made by beasts?”

   “Now that you mentioned it, those sounds are indeed similar. How did you know?”

   “That’s because I’ve fought goblin and ogre mages who cast spells by making those sounds, since that’s the basis of their language.” Jin explains.

   “Is that how you cast spells too? By growling and snarling?”

   “No. Humans, elves, goblins and ogres, and dragons each have their own spells. These spells won’t work unless the spell formulas are said out loud using their own native tongue, or by having the words written out using fingers.”

   “Hold on, if the kidnapper managed to cast a spell using the language spoken by goblins and ogres-”

   “He had the blood of those creatures inside him. In fact, all five of them did. I assume that’s the content of the syringes.”

   “And the reason they exploded?”

   “They were probably being monitored and somehow got silenced. Or it was the side effect from the content of the syringes. I’m not really sure.”

   Jin hears soft groaning sounds coming from the other side of the phone.

   “As if we aren’t getting enough headaches from the creatures already…”

   “So, are you sure I can’t barge in a certain someone’s lab?” he asks.

   “I’m afraid not. Like I said many times before, we have proper procedures for this kind of things.”

   Her tone made it clear that she hates not being able to search Bouchard’s lab as much as he does.

   “I’m seriously starting to think that our PM is being blackmailed by that Frenchman, or he’s getting something out of the guy’s research. Maybe you should investigate him first.” he suggests.

   “That’s even more difficult. You can’t try to investigate about one of the most powerful person in this country.”

   “Whoever said that you have to dirty your own hands? You can get someone to do it for you, right? Someone like Maebara.”

   “That’s too dangerous. What if he got caught?”

   “You sound like you actually care about what happens to him.”

   “I actually do. To a certain extent.”

   “Well, I think he’s our best bet if I’m not allowed to be reckless. Chieko-san might help, but I don’t want to endanger her.”

   “And you think that endangering Maebara is fine?”

   “Do you really want me to answer that?”

   “...No, you don’t have to.”

   Jin lets out a sigh after he the phone call is over. Things are getting more and more troublesome these days.

   A few minutes later, the girls are finally done with their bath. This is at least their second one on the same day. Jin could never understand why they bothered to keep their body clean so much. And he’s not going to ask. He’s not that dense.

   A few hours later, it’s finally time for the gathering. The girls got change into more proper clothes: Ayumi in her shrine maiden outfit, Meiko in her kimono, the Graylock sisters and Estyshana in their casual clothes. Jin didn’t bother to change his clothes nor take a bath. He’s not sweating, and he prefers to take a bath at his own apartment if he can help it.

   After making sure that everyone is good to go, Audrey searches the location of Fushimi shrine using her phone, and then concentrates to open up a portal that leads to there.

   “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for quite some time now, Minase-kun. Why don’t you ever open up a portal?” Ayumi asks Jin while they’re waiting.

   “The thing is, Teleportation is a spell that requires calculation. You need to calculate the exact place that you want to land on the other side of the portal, or you’ll end up somewhere you don’t want to be.” he explains.

   “So, what you’re saying is, you can’t use it since you have a hard time on figuring out the coordinates.”

   “That’s right.”

   Estyshana giggles.

   “Imagine that! A Hero who’s bath at Maths!” she laughs.

   Jin has nothing to say back against that. It’s indeed true that he’s terrible at Spatial Magics since he sucks at Mathematics.

   It took Audrey around 40 seconds to make the portal appear. It took longer than usual since it’s a place that she has never been to. Once done, she turns her neck to look at everyone.

   “Shall we?” she asks.

   “Yes. Let us go.” Ayumi confirms.

   They take turns to walk through the portal. Audrey made sure to open up the portal right outside Fushimi as per Ayumi’s request. According to her, this shrine must be entered formally. No teleportation or other hocus-pocus stuff are allowed.

   Walking at the front, she leads everyone to the front door and knocks on them.

   “State your name.” someone from the other side demands.

   “Ichihara Ayumi, Minase Jin, Estyshana Von Mantus, Audrey Graylock, Aldenia Graylock, and Meiko the oni.” Ayumi announces.

   The doors open at once. Beyond the doors are ten priests, all of them holding staffs and ready to fight off intruders.

   “We have been expecting you. Step inside.” one of the priests tells them.

   “Thank you.”

   Jin didn’t realize it the last time he was here, but the Fushimi Shrine is much bigger than it looks on the outside. After passing through the front door, they still have to pass through a corridor that has lots and lots of Torii gates.

   “Say, is there anyone who’s being left behind at Kameda to act as guard? You know, just in case?” Jin asks Ayumi.

   “There are. Five of my grandfather’s most trusted onmyojis are guarding the place as we speak.”

   “Only five?”

   “Don’t you worry. They’re very good at what they do.” she assures.

   Jin shrugs. If her and the rest of the onmyojis are content with that level of security, he’s not going to ask any more questions.

   Not long after, they passes through a building and enters the courtyard. Jin remembers this place. He and the oni-onmyoji alliance have fought the youkai-spirit alliance here.

   He sees a raised platform at the middle of the courtyard. It’s being surrounded by wooden dividers, so no one can see the inside. For the lighting, they have two paper lanterns on each side of the platform and that’s it. Jin sees Fox Lady’s servant standing right next to the platform. If he remembers correctly, her name was Marika.

   Jin looks around. They’re the only ones here.

   “Where’s everyone else?” he asks Ayumi.

   “They’re probably patrolling the shrine until the gathering starts for real. It’s not like there’s anything better to do in the meanwhile.”

   “I see.”

   Suddenly, Marika comes over to Jin.

   “You are Silver Wolf, correct?” she asks him to confirm.

   “That’s right. What of it?”

   “Shuzo-sama wishes to speak with you.”

   “Is that so? Sure thing.”

   “What kind of business does Shuzo-sama have with Minase-kun, Marika-san?” Ayumi asks Marika.

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   “I’m not sure either, Ayumi-sama. Shuzo-sama didn’t bother to tell me the details.”

   “Well, I’m off.” Jin tells the girls.

   Marika opens up the divider which is at the opposite side of the girls so that they can’t see the person inside. The moment Jin goes in, he sees Fox Lady in her usual outfit. She’s also eating inari sushi after inari sushi like she hasn’t been eating for months. Right in front of her is a pot of tea, a tea cup and mountains of inari sushi which she stuffs herself with.

   “Um, are you alright?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

   Fox Lady almost choked when she heard his voice. She swallows the inari sushi in her mouth and turns to look at him.

   “No, I’m not alright at all!” she whimpers.

   “Are you being nervous of telling everyone the truth?” he guesses.

   She nods vigorously. Three more inari sushi disappeared down her throat.

   “I’m afraid of their reaction. What if they decide to exorcise me? Or worse, quit and leave Japan defenceless?”

   “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” he assures her.

   “How could you tell? You were fine with who I am, but I doubt everyone thinks the same as you.”

   “You care more about the civilians than yourself. That already makes you a proper leader. If you convince them without withholding anything, I’m sure that they’ll follow you regardless.”

   “I pray that you’re right…”

   She looks a bit calmer than when he first came in, but she still can’t stop herself from eating the inari sushi.

   “Are you sure it’s okay to keep on stuffing yourself like that? What if you starts to burp while you’re making an important speech?” he asks her.

   “I can’t help it. This is the only way I know that can calm me down effectively.”

   “I’d say that it’s doing a terrible job.” he says as he watches her downing at least thirty of the sushi ever since they started talking.

   “Like I said, I need this.” she insists.

   “Well, if you think it’s going to help. Just don’t go overboard.”

   She nods. Jin folds the divider at the back so that he could get out. Marika was already there to question him.

   “How was Shuzo-sama?” she asks.

   “”He’s” fine. “He” was just being nervous.”

   “Oh, dear. I hope he won’t end up stuttering.”

   “It’s all up to “him”. ”

   Marika bows at him.

   “Thank you for talking to him. And I deeply apologize for being rude to you when we first met.”

   “Oh, that. I’ve already forgotten about that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my friends.”

   Ayumi was very eager to know the conversation between Jin and Fox Lady.

   “What did you talk to Shuzo-sama about?” she asks him.

   “He needed to talk to someone so that he could be less nervous.” he tells her.

   “Nervous? What on earth is he going to tell us?”

   “You’ll find out soon enough.” he tells her mysteriously.

   She rolls her eyes.

   “I’m starting to think that you’re doing this on purpose.” she murmurs.

   “What gave it away?”

   Meiko and Estyshana are staring at the platform without saying anything. Both of them probably realized that whoever that’s inside isn’t completely human.

   Eventually, people start to gather around the platform. Jin’s guess is that everyone has arrived.

   “Take down the dividers, Marika.” he hears Fox Lady telling Marika.

   “At once, Shuzo-sama.” the servant obeys meekly.

   Majority of people who heard Fox Lady’s voice is naturally surprised and starts murmuring among themselves.

   “Was that…a woman’s voice?”

   “That can’t be…”

   “Ichiro-sama himself made the rules that no woman can ever become onmyoji. There’s no way they’ll break their own law!”

   “But the voice-”

   “Shuzo-sama probably has a sore throat or something. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”

   “Who’s Ichiro?” Jin asks Ayumi.

   “The first head of the Yamauchi family.” she replies.

   “Ah.”

   That was probably Fox Lady too.

   Jin notices that there are a few of them who don’t look surprised. He take it that they either couldn’t care less, or they’re the selected few who knows about Fox Lady’s true identity.

   It didn’t take Marika long to remove all the dividers that were surrounding Fox Lady. Multiple gasps are heard the moment all those who’re present sees Fox Lady.

   “Good evening, everyone. For those of you who have not seen me before, which I am sure are pretty much everyone, I am Yamauchi Shuzo, the Head of Yamauchi family and the one who governs all the onmyojis in Japan.” she begins.

   She pauses. No one says or do anything. They’re probably too shocked. Ayumi looks at Fox Lady, then at Jin, then at fox Lady again. She pulls his shirt, as if wanting him to explain. All Jin did was putting his left index finger in front of his mouth.

   “I am also Ichiro, Genma, Nanajurou, and all the other previous Heads of the Yamauchi family.” Fox Lady continues.

   That got her some reaction. Louder murmurs that just now are heard.

   “How is dat possible, Shuzo-sama?”

   Jin looks at the one who spoke. It was the same onmyoji that tried to stop Jin from entering the main building just the other day.

   Instead of answering, she shows her golden hair, fox ears and tails. Even more gasps, this time with horrified ones mixed in.

   “As some of you might have already guessed from my appearance, I am the fox youkai known as Tamamo No Mae.”

   She continues with telling everyone about the same thing she told Jin: that her soul got separated into half, and that she made a deal with some of the onmyojis back then to assist them in exorcising her evil half and receive their protection in return. She also explained the reason she forbid women from becoming onmyojis.

   “...Ichihara Iemitsu and Ichihara Ayumi. Please come forward.” she requests after she was done.

   Iemitsu-san and Ayumi walk forward and stand in front of the raised platform.

   “Due to my foolishness and cowardice, Ichihara Asuka could not be buried properly right after she has fallen in battle. For that, I apologize to you. I would do the same to everyone from the Ichihara family, but I feel that I have to apologize to the both of you first and foremost.” Fox Lady tells them.

   She then bows deeply at them. From where Jin is standing, he could barely see their conflicted expression.

   “I must apologize to all of you as well. It may not fix anything, but I should apologize anyway. I’m sorry for using all of you to protect my own skin.” Fox Lady tells everyone here.

   “Don’t you mean fur?” Jin and Estyshana ask at the same time.

   Ayumi turns around and glares at them.

   “Read the atmosphere, you two!” she hisses.

   Jin looks around again. Minus a few of them, everyone else are showing conflicted expression too. It’s hard to tell how this would end.

   “Whatever should we do?” Audrey asks Jin with a soft voice.

   “Nothing. This is between them. Outsiders like us shouldn’t interfere.”

   “And if they decide to exorcise her?”

   “She decided to tell them the truth while taking that into consideration. The least we could do is respect that.”

   While they’re talking, Iemitsu-san kneels on his right leg and bows his head.

   “I am your humble servant.” he tells Fox Lady.

   “You still wish to serve me, Iemitsu? Despite the fact that I have lied to all of you and tried to use you like pawns?” she asks with a stunned expression.

   “You have indeed hid your true nature from us, but your intention is at the right place. Japan were safe from youkai for hundreds of years under your brilliant guidance.”

   “But surely, you’ll never forgive me about the incident regarding your late granddaughter!”

   “From an objective point of view, it’s true that Asuka has gone against the onmyoji laws. As such, I hold no grudge against your decision.”

   Fox Lady is trying her best not to tear up.

   “I’ve heard that you recovered her ash from Shuten Douji. Have you given her a proper burial?”

   “We have.”

   “Then, um, is it okay if I visit her grave when all this is over?” she asks fearfully.

   Iemitsu-san raises up his head and smiles.

   “Of course. She would be very delighted for someone she respected to visit her grave.”

   Fox Lady chuckles mockingly and looks at the floor.

   “I’m not worthy of her respect. I’m not making fun of your late granddaughter but she needed a better role model.”

   “I’m sure that she would have disagreed. In fact, so do everyone here.”

   Fox Lady looks around. The onmyojis around her are also kneeling on their knee and bowing their head.

   “Thank you, everyone.” she whispers while having tears in her eyes.

   Well, looks like everything turned out fine in the end.

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