2.23: Four Rooms and a FoxThe minka rose ahead of us. There were a series of orange fences set up in front of it, meant to keep anyone from entering the house.

  The house was rge, dignified, and undeniably old.

  A massive shimenawa was strung across the front with shide paper charms hanging from them in shapes somewhat like lighting bolts.

  Behind the orange fences, a great engawa wrapped around the exterior like a massive wooden embrace. The paint was faded and the wood had aged into a silver-gray hue, but the craftsmanship was pristine. The roof tiles gleamed faintly under the ntern light, each one set perfectly in pce as if time had dared not disturb them.

  Rui let out a low whistle. “It’s huge! It’s the perfect harem complex and it’ll make a great spiritual detective agency headquarters. The mood is so great! We should enshrine Old Screamy here in memory.”

  “I don’t want to remember, let alone pray to him!” I yelled, shivering.

  Akuchi cleared her throat. “We are not your harem. If anything, we’re in Sumire-sama’s!”

  I blushed profusely and Ume snuggled up to me.

  “I second that!” Ume giggled. “There’s definitely yuri in the air here.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Rui muttered. “I’ll make it ALL mine!” She clenched a determined fist.

  Everyone stared at her before we entered.

  Inside, the air was cool and faintly perfumed with incense and cedar.

  The entryway opened into a traditional hall lined with sliding doors. Tatami stretched out in every direction. Shoji screens diffused the ntern light into soft gold. The house was immacute in the way only pces tended by devoted priests ever could be. The hardwood floors were polished enough to show our reflections.

  The pce was old and dignified.

  “Feels like we stepped back in time,” I whispered.

  Rui poked at a nearby wooden beam. “It’s so beautiful… But the furniture is so old. They definitely belong in the Edo era.”

  Natalia-sama nodded serenely. “It has been a few decades since I st lived here. But do not worry. I will have it furnished with everything modern you all require. Beds, appliances, internet, even air conditioning. There’s already electricity. The priests asked for permission to have that installed so that they could use powered cleaning machines to polish the floor and vacuum. Those basics aside, whatever will make you comfortable.”

  “Air conditioning…” Rui sighed dreamily. “Although I wonder how well the house catches the morning and afternoon breezes.”

  “Surprisingly well.” Natalia-sama beamed. “The house was built in a time when the only air conditioning was crossbreezes.”

  They began inspecting rooms.

  The first of the bedrooms off an outdoor engawa hallway with the storm doors thrown open, was a spacious room with tatami that had an alcove with a scroll and a cabinet filled with old futons. Rui immediately sprawled on the floor ciming it. “Mine! Mwahahahaha!”

  The next along the engawa was a smaller room with soft light filtering in through a bamboo screen. Ume csped her hands together delightedly. “I’ll take this one, please! I can imagine how well I might decorate it. My mountain of plushies will go there… and I’ll put my low table for tea there.”

  A third room overlooked a small koi pond somewhat away from the engawa. Akuchi gazed at the view from the room. “Oooh! The pond is stocked with plenty of fish! I will feast! I meant… I will gently introduce my great self to them.”

  I had the feeling of eyes resting on me in this room. I’d have cimed it for myself if it weren’t for the chill that it filled me with.

  Natalia-sama opened a fourth door and gnced meaningfully at me.

  “This one is very peaceful. I think that you could use it the most out of all of us. It’s clean and quiet and farther away from any noises that people might make in the shrine.”

  A faint smell of vender lingered from the tatami.

  I stepped inside… and the atmosphere shifted completely.

  Where Akuchi’s room felt vaguely disturbing, this one felt like rexation after a long day of hard work.

  Soft evening light filtered in through a shoji screen, painting the tatami in warm golds. A single scroll hung in the alcove. An ink painting of winding mist over distant mountains, its strokes fluid and gentle, almost soothing to trace with my eyes. A low wooden table sat against the far wall, polished to a soft sheen. On it rested a small ceramic vase holding a single chrysanthemum, perfectly white and perfectly symmetrical.

  A folded futon y in the corner… crisp, freshly aired, smelling faintly of cedar. The woven tatami flooring wasn’t just clean, it was springy under my feet, soft in a way that suggested this room had been maintained with care, not merely cleaned. The subtle vender scent wasn’t overwhelming either. It was more like a whisper carried in from the garden, weaving itself naturally into the space.

  Everything was arranged to perfection. I knew it wouldn’t stay this way too long after I moved in. I’d need my tv, my consoles, my library of videos, my desk and an assortment of other things from my apartment.

  The window overlooked the maple trees in the back garden. Their leaves glowed faintly red in the dusk, gently swaying, casting shifting patterns of light that felt like breathing. When the wind stirred, the branches rustled softly, giving the room a hushed, almost lulby-like atmosphere.

  Although the room was mostly empty…It was very rexing.

  It had a kind of calming atmosphere that I didn’t realize I’d been starving for.

  Without stepping fully inside, I could already feel it… a stillness that wrapped around my frayed nerves like warm cloth. A softness that seeped into the aching in my stomach, my back, my exhausted spirit.

  “…This is really mine?” I asked softly.

  Natalia smiled and nodded.

  Rui peeked past my shoulder. “Your room will be close enough to mine, I guess. Perfect.”

  “Perfect for what?” I muttered.

  Rui didn’t answer, smirking.

  After the short tour, Natalia-sama led us onward through the back corridor toward a heavy shoji door that opened into the rear garden that we’d already seen.

  Even before stepping outside, something shifted.

  The air was quiet and cool. It brushed gently over my skin. The world beyond was darker than the front shrine, more secluded… a hidden world preserved by respect and memory.

  When we stepped out onto the veranda, I felt it immediately. It was the same atmosphere as before.

  The garden was rge, wrapped in old stone walls and trimmed hedges whose shadows stretched long in the ntern glow. Moss covered the stepping stones in velvety green patches, softening their outlines. Bronze and stone nterns lined the central path, their gss panes reflecting faint points of starlight as though catching spirits drifting past.

  Since it was early November, the air had a crisp bite that sank pleasantly into my lungs.

  The maple leaves had deepened to rust-red. Gingko leaves carpeted the earth in gold, the faint, slightly unpleasant odor of their fruit drifting on the night breeze. A few te autumn blossoms clung stubbornly to their stems, bright splotches of color against the subdued ndscape.

  The pond reflected the moon, broken only by drifting ripples from the koi gliding beneath the surface. Bamboo rustled in intervals, each shift sounding like whispered conversation. Somewhere near the outer walls, the wind carried the distant chiming of shrine bells… soft, metallic, and somehow reverent.

  Rui exhaled slowly. “It’s even prettier at night.”

  Natalia-sama nodded. “This garden was designed around two principles: Serenity… and concealment. The deeper you go, the more the air folds in on itself. Human senses interpret that as peace. Yōkai senses interpret it as a boundary.”

  Ume shivered. “It feels so dream-like. What do you mean by a boundary?”

  “The wrong kind of yōkai are repelled. It also helps that the grounds have been consecrated,” Natalia-sama said.

  “Oh. I’m gd that we’re not the wrong kind. Then I wouldn’t be able to live in this lovely big house!” Ume grinned.

  “You aren’t really a yōkai ,” Rui reminded her. “You’re undead.”

  “Same concept. Many yōkai are dead, I’m undead. What’s the difference?” Ume winked.

  “That’s why the vampires fit so nicely into the yōkai society. But some yōkai are actually ascended humans and animals.” Natalia nodded.

  “Yōkai like us.” Akuchi nodded. “For an animal to live long enough to awaken is very rare.”

  Natalia smiled. “Being a yōkai isn’t just about whether one is alive or dead. Those states are more of a suggestion as long as consciousness remains strong… Well, except in the strange case of Rui’s sister. It’s intriguing that she regards all supernatural beings born of consciousness power the same way… By spiritually rejecting our existence.”

  We followed her down the stone path, the exact one we had used before. The fox statues stood watch along the edges… its silent, dignified guardians. It was a little different under nightfall. Their carved ninetails cast long, branching shadows, their eyes seemed a little more alert than before.

  Soon, we reached the central stone ntern.

  The portal to the Yōkai world.

  It was carved with the same hidden sigils and its sculpted fox, now revealed by Natalia-sama’s earlier actions. The ivy was still parted, showing the motif of a fox sitting before an ornate gate, holding a mirror against its chest.

  The air thickened with that familiar pressure… the subtle sense that the garden was holding its breath.

  Natalia-sama stepped forward, brushing her fingers along the ivy.

  The now-lit paper charms tied around the ntern shook and fpped despite the stillness of the air. The stone beneath her foot hummed faintly as she tapped it in a specific rhythm—short, precise, like some kind of a coded knocking.

  “What’s the secret?” I asked curiously.

  “You infuse some spiritual energy into the inscription. That spiritual energy is reflected back into you and you redirect it down your leg in short bursts. It’s a bit of a signal that coaxes the gate to show itself. But the password is still required.” Natalia-sama murmured as her foot tapped.

  She whispered that same old chant softly under her breath. I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  The little hairs on my arms rose. The ntern’s tiny opening went bck. Shadows gathered inside, deepening and pooling into an inky surface. A pool of darkness spilled outward from the base, flowing across the ground. It was a substance somewhere between liquid and mist… rippling gently in a widening circle at our feet.

  Shapes flickered in the swirling surface. I could see them again, the faint silhouettes of torii gates, neon lights, and buildings that leaned at odd angles.

  Silence fell.

  “We aren’t going to the council this time, but my old acquaintance is near enough to this gate. We’ll need a vehicle capable of traversing over a sea of sand. We’ll count on you for that, Akuchi-chan.” Natalia-sama beamed. “Is everyone ready to go?”

  Everyone nodded, and together we stepped off into the inky pool. The shadowy substance wrapped around us, cool and velvety. We waded through the thick, ink-like medium that didn’t cling to our skin. Light vanished. Sound, too. For a moment it felt like floating between the moment between breaths.

  Then everything snapped back together.

  The world had color, air and solidity.

  We stood in the middle of that same street in the Yōkai world.

  The strange buildings towered on either side of us… the apartments, the shops, the old houses. Somewhat familiar to me by now, but they were still skewed, their lines bending in ways that made my eyes drift.

  Natalia-sama turned away from the direction of the council and looked at Akuchi.

  “If you’d be so kind. I think perhaps something like a jeep would—” Natalia-sama started to say.

  Akuchi cartwheeled away with a bright, eager yelp.

  POOF

  She transformed into a curiously rge vehicle with a canopied top. It sat there heavily in the street. There were no wheels. It was more like a canopied deck than a vehicle at first gnce. It had a broad undercarriage that looked utterly useless until the base suddenly expanded and infted. Then her motor rumbled to life.

  Air rushed outward in a powerful gust, whipping my skirt and exposing my mega wedgie to any passing yōkai . I cpped a hand behind me instinctively and squeaked, moving to force my skirt down.

  Rui moved quickly as Aika, flushing and attaching herself to my backside like a cute lecherous barnacle before I could cover myself. She snuggled between the cheeks.

  DOKI-DOKI

  “Kyaaaaaaaaa! Pervert!” I squealed.

  Ume licked her lips. “As much as I’d like to succumb to my base instincts just like RuiRui, instead of causing an erotic scene right here, I think we should probably get onboard.”

  Several yōkai had gathered to watch us…

  Of course they would. Damn it!

  Spectral silhouettes, curious shapes, glowing eyes peeking between shifting storefront shadows. I blushed even harder with eyes on me and Rui. She just wouldn’t stop nuzzling at spots that she should not in front of everyone.

  A set of boarding stairs lowered for us with a metallic hiss. We quickly climbed up, and Akuchi started off immediately, gliding smoothly over the ground like a leviathan made of metal and Akuchi’s immense tanuki pride.

  I did my best to hide from the eyes on me.

  We rumbled through the warped version of Tokyo, passing all sorts of yōkai along the way… some towering and skeletal with ntern-light shining through their ribs, others small and fluffy with too many eyes. A few paused mid-step to watch us glide past aboard Akuchi, their heads tilting at odd angles.

  Their gazes varied, conveying different emotions, curiosity, hunger, calcution.

  Others bowed politely to Natalia-sama as though sensing her authority as we rumbled past. She stood at Akuchi’s prow like her admiral.

  The deeper we went, the stranger the streets became. Intersections branched in ways that made no geometric sense, the roads bending like brushstrokes in an Edo-era painting brought to life. Wooden storefronts with sliding screens sat beside modern apartment silhouettes whose windows blinked with foxfire instead of electricity. Everything felt compressed. Tokyo reshaped into a tight, dreamlike version of itself.

  Soon, the st warped buildings thinned behind us, and the open expanse of the sand fields unfurled before our eyes.

  I swallowed, clutching my stomach with both hands as another wave of cramps twisted downward. “Ugh…” I muttered.

  “They look like they want to eat us,” I mumbled, watching a cluster of jagged silhouettes perched on a rooftop. It was a yōkai with too-long limbs and gaping smiles. “I don’t think I’m fit for any more fighting today.”

  Natalia-sama gnced back over her shoulder, her expression gentle, but edged with quiet confidence. “You won’t have to.” She turned her gaze toward the lurking figures. “Most of those creatures look worse than they really are. And even the ones who are dangerous tend to reconsider when they sense me.” She winked, the gesture warm but undeniably powerful.

  She was a centuries, maybe millennias kitsune who knew she was the biggest predator on the field.

  “Well… if it came to it, I think the three of us could handle fighting for her.” Ume murmured, her voice soft but certain, almost protective. She leaned against my arm with the casual intimacy of a lover. Rui mirrored her on my other side, both of them holding me between them.

  And they’d been clinging like that ever since we started off.

  Their bodies pressed against me, brushing lightly against my breasts every time we hit a bump. The combined warmth of their bodies against me made my face burn. I kept my eyes trained on the horizon, refusing to think about the heavy, damp sensation below my waist or how acutely aware I was of the too-tight underwear and oversized pad wedged against my crotch.

  Rui nudged me with her elbow. It was subtle for her, but still firm. “We’ve got you, Sumire-chan,” she muttered, almost embarrassed by her own sincerity. Her fingers tapped lightly against my arm… a somewhat rexing rhythm. “Don’t push yourself anymore today, princess.”

  Ume nodded, her hair brushing my cheek as her head tilted against mine. “You can lean as much as you want on me,” she whispered. “You don’t have to be strong every moment.”

  My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure which of them I wanted to lean over onto, but I very much felt like I needed to lean over. The tightness in my heart was partly from their tenderness and partly from the pressure of having two very affectionate women draped over me. My face felt hot enough to light paper charms on fire.

  We crested the first of the sand dunes.

  Akuchi gave an excited mechanical chirping noise and accelerated.

  The vehicle plunged down the far side with a stomach-dropping swoop.

  I gasped, clinging to both Rui and Ume instinctively as butterflies exploded inside me.

  Rui ughed breathlessly. “Akuchi, slow down! Susu’s gonna puke!”

  Akuchi, ever a chaotic gremlin, regardless of form, answered with a cheerful engine revving that absolutely meant no way, despite her usual behavior towards me.

  We continued like that for a while.

  Crest, swoop, crest, swoop.

  She was having too much fun… so much that this was starting to feel like a log flume ride with sand instead of water. Sand exploded every time we rushed downhill and hit the bottom.

  —Until the golden expanse finally changed and firmed as vegetation began to appear and the nd fttened.

  A shimmering ke appeared ahead of us, still and mirror-like despite the shifting world around it. Dense bamboo framed the water, their stalks tall enough to touch the low-drifting clouds. Ancient trees loomed behind them—gnarled and immense, their branches heavy with moss and pale, glowing fungi.

  A silver mist wreathed through the forest, drifting around the trunks like it had a will of its own.

  The entire pce hummed faintly… not with a sense of danger, but with a dreamlike stillness.

  My breath caught.

  Even Rui stopped talking.

  Ume’s fingers curled around mine, her eyes going wide, her pupils diting as though the beauty of the pce pulled at her heart… An appreciation for old things, gloominess and beauty reawakened in her.

  Natalia-sama exhaled softly. “We’ve arrived,” she said. “This ke marks the boundary of where we’re heading. My acquaintance lives on the far side of the ke in a cavern. This is his domain.”

  Akuchi slowed to a gentle glide, her engine whispering as we drifted toward the edge of the silvery forest.

  The air changed.

  It was cooler, still, heavy with moisture, but didn’t feel oppressive.

  It was a bit like approaching a shrine’s steps.

  “Stay close to me,” Natalia-sama murmured.

  Because no matter how beautiful the pce was… it felt like the kind of beauty that had teeth.

  Relwing