ONE weekday afternoon, Tsukushi waited in Shino’s office, wearing a suit befitting human society. A young iso-onna, recently hired by a human company, entered the room. She’d come to report that her trial period had ended and that, moving forward, she would be a full-time employee. Despite the lingering summer heat, she wore long sleeves and a hat.
Upon seeing Tsukushi, her eyes widened. She took a seat and inclined her head, timidly saying, “My name is, um, Shizuku. Pardon my rudeness, but have we ever met before?”
“Thank you for coming all this way,” Tsukushi replied. “I’m Shinozaki’s older sister.”
“His…older sister?”
Taking advantage of Shizuku’s confusion, Tsukushi fanned her nine tails to send a soft wave of air in the iso-onna’s direction.
Shizuku raised a muffled cry before going rigid. She’d fallen into a hypnotic trance.
Tsukushi sidled closer, bringing her lips close to the iso-onna’s ear. “Your memories of Kaede are actually of me,” she said. “Illusions I conjured. Tsukushi, the nine-tailed kitsune, commands you: forget Kaede.”
“As you wish,” promised Shizuku lifelessly.
“We took care of the paperwork for your full-time employment with no issue. There should be no discrepancies in your memories.”
If, by some chance, Shizuku had communicated with Kaede via text or email, she would mistake those messages as Tsukushi’s.
“Go now,” the nine-tailed fox said.
Shizuku nodded weakly and stood. Once the iso-onna left the office, Tsukushi opened Shino’s tablet, then transformed from an adult to a young girl.
“Now then,” she said to herself, “my next target is the chief priest of that old temple. The sheer number of ayakashi who saw Kaede’s face in Itoshima and Nakasu will be a problem, but a single priest should be easy to take care of.” She paused. “There’s also the black nekomata. If I nullify his contract with Kaede, he’ll run out of spiritual energy… I’ll leave him alone for now. I wouldn’t be able to sleep well if he died.”
The reception room sofa didn’t hurt her tail even when she sank into the cushions, she noticed. Upon closer inspection, she saw a gap in the couch near her lower back—presumably to prevent one’s tails from being squished. She couldn’t help but smile at her brother’s meticulous disposition.
“Well, well, you look like you’re having fun,” a voice said. “Lady of Chikushino.”
The door opened, and the fragrant scent of coffee filled the room. A black Shiba Inu—half beast, half woman—settled on the opposite sofa, setting her coffee mug on the table.
“I can’t get enough of the light roast,” the Shiba Inu said. “Something about the acidity makes me think, ‘Yes, this makes my human form worth it!’” As she spoke, she morphed into a tall woman, her long legs spilling out of her modest skirt. Lustrous, black hair cascaded over the backrest of the couch like a bridal kimono. Fluffy ears, thicker than a fox’s, perked atop her head like two pieces of burnt toast.
“Princess Hainu,” Tsukushi said. “If you think living as a human is so delightful, why do you usually go around as a dog?”
The shapeshifting canine shrugged theatrically. She had sharp features, large eyes, and expressive, jet-black brows.
“Do you even need to ask?” Princess Hainu smiled. “If I didn’t assume a canine form, you wouldn’t let me work for your little brother, would you? Given your attachment to him.”
“Good point. I would tear you to shreds.”
Princess Hainu offered Tsukushi a cup of coffee.
Throughout the ages, many powerful leaders, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had favored Princess Hainu. Tsukushi had to admit their fine taste. Princess Hainu possessed spiritual energy rooted in the land itself. Even a nine-tailed fox would be unwise to challenge her. In addition to wielding the fury of nature, she had a long history and strong ties with other powerful forces.
Princess Hainu studied Tsukushi carefully. “Do you really intend to separate your little brother from Kaede?”
“This is the perfect opportunity, no? I want to finally free him from this cursed fate.”
“Cursed, eh?” Princess Hainu folded her legs insinuatingly. “If you think being shackled to heartbreak is a curse, is excessive love between siblings not as well?”
“My love isn’t excessive.” Tsukushi, the beautiful, young-looking fox, smirked and puffed out her chest. “Shino and I are twins. We’ve been inseparable since time immemorial. There aren’t two other siblings like us in the entire world.”
“Well, yes, that sort of thing did tend to happen in the old days.”
“Some things don’t change, no matter how many ages pass. Thank you for the coffee.”
Tsukushi stood. Leaving the office building, she murmured, “This is what’s best. For Kaede and Shino’s sake.”
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“GOODNESS.” After watching the nine-tailed fox leave, Hainuzuka sipped her lukewarm coffee alone. “Once you start acting for the sake of others and the world, the end always justifies the means, doesn’t it?”
How long has it been since I spent time in my human form?
Hainuzuka—Princess Hainu—loved her natural canine body. She remained flexible about her appearance though, based on the era and her interlocutor. She loved that freedom as well.
“Will erasing Kaede’s memories go as well as she hopes?” Hainuzuka chuckled to herself. “After all, she has yet to remove the sigil on her chest.”
Tsukushi claimed her every deed was for the sake of her little brother. But the mark of her master-servant relationship with Sakura remained intact although she’d forced Shinozaki to remove his.
“She says no one is more important to her than her little brother,” Hainuzuka mused. “But is that true, I wonder? Well, as long as she has the sigil, she won’t be able to fully deceive her master, regardless of whether she’s a nine-tailed fox.”
Kaede had inherited Sakura and Tsukushi’s active contract, and her immense spiritual energy would enable her to easily break the seal on her memories.
At least, if she were a typical spiritual practitioner.
A typical practitioner would have established countermeasures in case their familiar tried to trick them. But Kaede Kikui was an ordinary girl who knew nothing of the subject. Naturally, she had neglected to create any fail-safes against a rebellious fox in her service.
“Still…” Hainuzuka chuckled again. “Kaede isn’t normal enough to wish for an ordinary life.”
Shinozaki, after centuries of heartbreak, had invited Kaede Kikui to his company. And in spite of her insistence that she wanted to be normal, Kaede wielded her spiritual energy instinctively. Furthermore, she’d become so at home in the world of ayakashi that one might think she’d been born into it.
“The tables always turn when least expected in this world,” Hainuzuka said to herself. “And I’m not the only one who doesn’t wish to part with Kaede.”
Hainuzuka couldn’t predict the future. Nevertheless, she didn’t think the situation would resolve itself that easily.
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✦ ✦ ✦
I stood at the intersection in front of Daimaru, a department store in Tenjin. September had arrived, and my job-hunting suit was sweltering in the late-summer heat.
Half a year had passed since I was laid off from my first job. After a short recuperation period, I’d started working at a certain company’s branch office in Tenjin.
The noonday sun was harsh without a parasol. I was dabbing my sweaty brow with a wet wipe, glancing up at the red traffic signal, when something pleasantly silky touched my ankle. Looking down, I saw the tail of a black cat brushing up my shin.
“Mrrow.”
The cat was slender and beautiful. Wrapping himself around the hem of my slacks, he stared up at me with pleading eyes.
“So cute.”
The traffic signal turned green. I picked up the cat and carried him across the intersection to prevent the crowd from trampling him. He was used to people, I guessed, given how he purred in my arms.
Reaching the entrance to Daimaru, I set him on the sidewalk. “Be careful, little fella,” I said. “Don’t run out into the street.”
“Mrrow.”
“Wait, are you going to follow me? Just what have I gotten myself into?”
The cat refused to leave, meowing at me incessantly for reasons I couldn’t comprehend. Hardening my heart, I turned to leave. A moment later, he leapt onto my back and dug his claws into me.
“Ow, ow, ow!” I yelped. “Wh-What are you—”
The cat hissed.
Then—
Pitter-patter.
It began to rain. The sudden downpour, cascading over my head like an overturned bucket, was at stark odds with the clear sky.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I cried. “I was just on my way to work!”
I grabbed the cat, bolted beneath the arcade of Daimaru, and rummaged for a towel in my tote bag. I wrung out my hair, then dried the cat.
“Mrrow…” The cat lost his energy after our abrupt soaking, seeming to give up on something.
As I watched him reluctantly saunter off, a headache lanced one side of my skull. “Ugh,” I groaned. “I need to get to the office, change my shirt, and take some headache medicine, like, now.”
I always carried a towel and an extra shirt in my bag, as I was often caught in the rain lately. Of course, I also carried a folding umbrella, but I hadn’t pulled it out in time. And the rain always caused a migraine. Medicine helped, but it still hurt. And getting drenched had dampened my spirits as well.
“I need to get to work,” I mumbled. Heaving a sigh, I checked the time and hurried on my way.
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