Chapter 2: The Iso-Onna of Itoshima and Dreams of the Mainland
BLINDING, early morning light streamed through the window, heralding dawn’s arrival. Wincing, I turned my back to the sunlight. Unfortunately, my smartphone alarm began to chirp at me from my bedside. After fumbling to turn it off, I checked the screen. The clock displayed 7:01 a.m. over a picture of my welcome party a while back.
Time to get up.
I stretched—and felt a living creature resting on my thighs. Its coarse fur radiated a gentle heat. “Hm?”
I pulled an elongated, black cat from underneath the blanket. Despite his elegant form, he wore a dimwitted expression, his tongue lolling and nose twitching in slumber.
“How many times,” I said, “have I told you not to sleep under the covers?”
Yoru purred. “Mrow.”
“Charming meows will only get you so far.”
Yoru was a nekomata. At a glance, he appeared to be a young, slender, and adorable black cat. Yet to my constant dismay, he could transform into a classically handsome Japanese man with almond eyes. Naturally, I didn’t want him sleeping in my bed. That said, I often relented when he looked like a cat. How could I stay angry at such a cute little kitty?
Yoru and I had formed a master-servant contract. As my pet cat, he’d secured his place in the human realm, which ayakashi frequently referred to as the Near Shore. In the past, Yoru had served a longstanding samurai house for hundreds of years.
Technically, he was currently living in Shinozaki’s office. He even kept a human business suit in his work locker. But when the mood struck him, he sneaked into my room to steal a bite of his master’s spiritual energy. He claimed sleeping next to me stabilized him and put him at ease.
After Yoru left my room, I changed into my job-hunting suit. My parents weren’t home that morning; Dad had gone to work early, and Mom had volunteered to watch the neighborhood children.
I hummed a carefree tune while making toast, then turned on the television to watch the morning news with my breakfast. Fukuoka Prefecture’s local broadcasting station was covering the citizens of Itoshima City, who were preparing to hold a market festival that upcoming weekend.
A young woman on the festival staff was responding to questions in front of the stunning coastline. She was breathtakingly beautiful with long, jet-black hair. “I moved to Itoshima after falling in love with the beautiful ocean and how easy it is to live here,” she said. “I’m so excited to hold fun events like this with the locals.”
“She’s as beautiful as the Little Mermaid,” I mumbled to myself.
The young woman wore a bright red T-shirt. She wasn’t dolled up in the slightest but had a sultry voice and elegant bearing. Someone once said, I recalled, that the most attractive people look best in a simple T-shirt.
Next was entertainment news. When a preview of a kissing scene in some new drama flashed on the screen, I reflexively changed the channel.
“Ugh…” I groaned. I still hadn’t gotten over my kiss with Shinozaki. And I’d seen him every day since joining his company. Given my experience at my previous workplace, I’d been nervous about what might happen, yet Shinozaki treated me with surprising normalcy.
Maybe our kiss wasn’t a big deal to him as an ayakashi.
“All right!” I exclaimed to the empty room. “Time to give this job all I’ve got!”
“Yeah, that’s the spirit,” responded a familiar voice.
“Huh?” Turning to the side, I found Yoru sitting in front of the television. Completely naked. In his human form.
“P-P-Peeeanuuuts!” I shrieked.
“What’s wrong, Lady Kaede?” he asked.
“Human! No clothes! Man! My innocent little eyes!”
Bathing in the gentle, morning light filtering through the curtain, Yoru resembled a pinup model. Sadly, my poor heart couldn’t handle the picturesque sight.
“Don’t mind me,” Yoru said. “I consider my human and cat forms to be one and the same.”
“Listen here. You might not care about modesty because I’m a human woman, but what if I were a female cat?”
“Oh, I see. That’s why you’re so flustered.”
“Yes, that.”
“But since you’re a human woman, what does it matter?”
My eye twitched. “Sorry. Maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Yoru stood.
“Eek!” I squealed, shielding my face with my hands.
Before I glimpsed anything indecent, he transformed into a cat. Slipping past me, he opened the sliding window with dexterous paws and leapt out of the house. “See you at the office, Lady Kaede.”
“Please, for the love of Tenjin, don’t go outside naked as a human,” I muttered.
I cleaned up and turned off the TV, then left as well. I was already exhausted before the day had even begun.
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“GOOD morning.”
“Morning, Kaede,” replied Hainuzuka, the adorably fluffy officer of accounting and general affairs. She looked like a black Shiba Inu in business attire. She unlocked the door for me, then started to prepare tea, her tail swishing back and forth.
Yes, she also called me Kaede. Per Shinozaki’s instructions, everyone had started to refer to me as such. His reaction to my surname had been unusual; no one else had ever refused to use it. In fact, the name Kikui was so rare that most of my friends enjoyed saying it.
Hainuzuka had smiled knowingly at Shinozaki’s request. “Still hate wells, do you?” she’d asked.
Shinozaki called me to his desk as soon as I clocked in. “You’re going to Itoshima today.”
“Itoshima?” I recalled the natural scenery and beautiful coastline on the television that morning. The view would probably be gorgeous under the clear May sky. “So will I be speaking with someone about changing jobs or moving?”
“Not quite,” he replied. “This client moved to Itoshima from Ishikawa five years ago. She has something to discuss with us and specifically asked me to send the newcomer.” He gestured to his desktop monitor, and I leaned in to read a simple overview of the client’s information.
Race: Hamahime
Name: Kiyone
Birth Year: Memories date back approx. 250 years
Place of Origin: Hashitate (Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture)
Current Residence: Itoshima
Status: Relocated to an iso-onna settlement with the mediation of an iso-onna named Eime
“Like I said, the client asked to meet our new employee. Go make a proper introduction.”
I nodded. “Understood.” Then another question occurred to me. “Um, Shinozaki…”
“Hm?”
“Our company is officially a career and relocation support service, right?”
“Right.”
“But in reality, we provide a wide range of services to ayakashi that live in Fukuoka or want to live in Fukuoka. Is that correct?”
“It is. On the surface, we’re a career support service, but our duties go beyond that. Of course, we literally provide jobs to individuals like Yoru. Ayakashi like him find their place in the world and stabilize their spiritual energy through human connection. Ayakashi like Kiyone, however, can survive with minimal human interaction so long as they have a physical niche. In other words, their location stabilizes their spiritual energy.”
“Huh,” I said. “Interesting.” I would have to look up hamahime during the commute. I knew only that they were sea-dwelling ayakashi.
“We sometimes help those clients tether themselves to a location,” said Shinozaki. “And some ayakashi want to work even though they already have a community and stable spiritual energy. Obviously, we try to find jobs for those clients as well. Hainuzuka is that sort of ayakashi, actually.”
He glanced at her, and she peeked over her desktop monitor, her tail still swishing to and fro. “My spiritual energy is stable,” she said, “but I can’t relax unless I’m working, you know?”
“So that’s how it works, huh?” I mused.
“It’s a small world for us ayakashi,” Shinozaki said. “Newcomers have a difficult time integrating into existing communities. We have two options in such cases: give up living on the Near Shore or go on a rampage and risk elimination.”
Yoru’s ears drooped. His expression remained impassive, yet Shinozaki’s statement must have been painful. Perhaps a small part of him wanted to flee in shame.
“Anyway,” said Shinozaki, “we provide reliable communities for ayakashi who want to stay on the Near Shore.”
“Wow,” I said. “That makes this place sound more like a charity than a business.”
Shinozaki shrugged. “You could say that. Ayakashi in Fukuoka have a generous patron who supports their immigration. We’ve managed to get by with his help. Somehow or other.”
“A generous patron?”
“You’ll meet him someday, whether you want to or not. It’s time for me to head out though.” He donned the jacket draped over his chair and rose to his feet.
Each time he stood, his towering frame startled me. He was so tall.
“Talk to Hainuzuka if you have any questions,” he instructed.
“Will do.”
“See you later, Shinozaki!” she called, wagging her tail in farewell.
Once he’d departed the office, I turned to her. “So…” I began, listening to Shinozaki’s leather boots descend the stairs, “appearances aside, he’s incredibly good at taking care of people, isn’t he?”
“Absolutely,” she replied. “He’s overcome his fair share of hardship. Maybe that’s why he’s so determined to help other ayakashi now.” The canine woman smiled, a faraway look in her eyes as she tapped a stack of documents on her desk. “He’s got a big heart. If you’re ever in trouble, don’t hesitate to ask him for help.”
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