“I thought so,” Lindsay sighed.
She knew, logically speaking, that some of the people she went to school with every day had to be yōkai. It was something she hadn’t really thought about before, but now that their existence had been exposed, it was finally sinking in. Surely, if Christine, Lilian, and Iris were yōkai, then it stood to reason there were others at her school. They couldn’t be the only ones.
“It’s going to be okay,” Lindsay assured Jessica, who looked at her with wide eyes as if unable to believe her ears. Lindsay offered the girl the most reassuring smile she could muster. “I can’t say the same about anyone else, but it doesn’t matter to me if you’re yōkai or human. That’s not going to change who you are.”
“Who… I am?” Jessica whispered.
“Yep. You, Jessica Springen, are my friend, and that won’t change just because I found out that you’re a yōkai.”
“R-really?”
“Of course.”
The shaking of Jessica’s legs slowly ceased and her breathing went back to normal. She sent Lindsay a tentative smile, one filled with gratitude. Lindsay smiled back, glad that she could help her friend. Things were going to be difficult, she knew, but Lindsay promised herself that she would protect her friends.
Just then, multiple gunshots went off.
And the gym once more descended into chaos.
***
Juan burst out of the amphitheater doors and down the hall. Shouts followed after him, but he paid them no mind. Enhancing his muscles with youki, he raced toward the nearest exit.
He’d cast an enchantment on several of his peers, humans, slowly manipulating the terror already instilled within their minds until it reached a boiling point. The humans had rushed to attack the soldiers, who’d opened fire and caused the students to panic. He felt bad about hurting those people. However, the guns fired non-lethal rounds. It wasn’t much of a consolation, but he kept telling himself that it was for the sake of his kind.
Juan had tried to escape during the chaos, but he had been spotted by one of the guards.
“There he is!”
“After him!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
Juan swore as gunfire echoed behind him. The pings! of near misses had him jumping in fright. He was an information broker, and while he’d been in some dangerous situations to gather intelligence, he’d never been shot at before. Being threatened by angry yōkai was nothing compared to having bullets zip past your face.
He turned down a corner and bolted down it. The shouts became a little more distant, and he thanked the gods that his half-kitsune blood gave him enough youki to use enhancements. As he burst out of the exit, his legs strengthened with youki, Juan had only a moment to catch his breath before he realized that he was surrounded.
“Juan Martinez Valuenza Cortes, or should I call you Stephen Valsiener?” Justin stood at the front, the black gun in his hand reflecting sunlight.
“I prefer going by the name of Juan Martinez Valuenza Cortes,” Juan said as nonchalantly as possible, “eef you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Justin’s words sounded almost conversational.
“I appreciate that,” Juan replied with equal aplomb.
“You cast an enchantment on those people,” Justin said, his tone changing, shifting from light hearted and easygoing to dark within seconds.
Juan licked his dry lips and wondered if he possessed any tricks up his sleeve that could get him out of this situation. “You would do so as well, were you een my situation.”
Justin seemed to ponder that statement. “Perhaps, but then, perhaps not. Now.” Justin gestured at Juan with his gun. “Are you going to surrender quietly, or will I have to shoot you?”
A tense silence passed as Juan went over his options. He quickly determined that he had no options. He couldn’t enchant more than one person at a time, and if he did enchant someone, Justin would probably find out what was happening and shoot him. Likewise, none of his illusions would work here, not in a situation like this. Really, he only had one option left to him.
Juan raised his hands above his hand. “Eet seems you have me. I surrender.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Justin said. “Men! Cuff the kitsune and escort him off campus. Make sure you wrap his tail in jorōgumo threads.”
Juan clicked his tongue as he realized there would be no escape now. He had more youki than a good number of two-tailed kitsune, but he didn’t have enough to overload the threads of a jorōgumo.
Well, this situation has quickly gone down the drain.
As he was led off campus, Juan looked at the sky, where he thought he saw an ethereal, tube-shaped creature.
But of course, there was nothing there but blue skies.
It must have been his imagination.
CHAPTER 5
THE YŌKAI IDENTIFICATION ACT
Kevin would have never imagined that this base would also contain a shooting range—though thinking about it in hindsight, it only made sense that Monstrang would want the yōkai working under him to be familiar with human weapons.
This one was a little different than the shooting ranges he had gone to with Kiara. There were no individual alcoves to separate people. Likewise, the targets being used weren’t the same stationary targets that he was used to.
Kevin had come here early in the morning to get some practice in. Lilian was still asleep, having spent most of the night drawing her manga. The last he’d seen her, Iris had been using her boobs as a pillow.
He wasn’t alone. Another person was with him, standing by his side. Heather. While he was dual wielding his custom handguns, Heather was using a standard 9mm pistol.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready.”
Heather pushed a button on the wall and a timer hanging from the ceiling began to countdown from ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Kevin shifted into a stronger stance, knees spreading as he raised his handguns into a position that would allow him the most stability while firing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Heather take a more traditional stance. He glanced back at the timer. Six. Five. Sweat trickled down his brow. Four. Three. He licked his lips, which felt abnormally dry for some reason. Two. One. Damn. He should have put on chapstick or something.
Zero.
On que, ten clay pigeons were launched through the air. He and Heather opened fire at the same time, their goal being to shoot as many of the pigeons as possible. Bullets were fired and energy projectiles lanced out of barrels in bright flashes of incandescence. Clay pigeons exploded as if they were made of glass, showering the ground with the fragments of their decimated bodies. All of the clay pigeons had been destroyed before they could hit the ground.
“Heh, looks like I win.” Heather grinned. “Better luck next time, kiddo.”
Kevin clicked his tongue. “I still don’t understand how you almost always beat me. I have a much higher firing rate since I’m using two guns.”
“Having two guns doesn’t mean you have better aim,” Heather lectured. “If anything, I’d say your aim is worse when you use two guns. You don’t get the same stability as you do when firing a single gun.”
“I guess.”
Kevin looked down at his handguns. The one in his left hand gleamed bright silver, while the right one shone with a dark luster, like a black hole absorbing all light. Both were shaped like Desert Eagles.
Desert Eagles are semi-automatic handguns notable for chambering the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol. These bad boys normally fired .50 caliber rounds, but the ones Kevin used were different. Loaded with youki-charged magazines, they fired projectiles made from youki instead of lead.
What she said made sense. Dual wielding offered a higher firing rate, but also took away one’s stability. These guns didn’t have as much recoil as a regular firing arm, because they fired energy projectiles instead of bullets, but that didn’t mean their recoil didn’t exist. It was also more difficul
t to use two guns the way he had. He supposed that was what happened when someone tried shooting two different targets at the same time—the fact that they were both moving targets notwithstanding.
I should work on being able to fire at multiple targets at once.
“Anyway, we’ve still got some time before anyone else wakes up,” Heather commented, tossing him a challenging grin. “Wanna go another round?”
“Of course I do,” Kevin answered, gesturing for her to start the timer. “I’m always up for a challenge.”
Despite his confident words, Kevin only managed to beat Heather once, and only by a single point. He was positive that his win was just an instance of him getting lucky. She had overextended herself during one of their spars, and he'd managed to capitalize on that by tripping her and shooting her in the back.
Heather had more experience than him, so it made sense that she would come out victorious more often than not. He accepted that and tried not to let it bother him, though he did make a promise to come back and practice some more. While he might have accepted Heather being better than him, it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and become better than her.
After parting ways, Kevin decided to make use of the shower. One wouldn’t think so, but firing guns for two hours actually worked up quite a sweat. The amount of concentration and stamina required to consistently fire one gun, never mind two, was a lot higher than most people would assume.
Perhaps it was due to how they were trying to conserve space, but showers in this base were communal. They were just a big, open space filled with tiles and shower heads. Because they were communal, it meant the men’s and women’s showers were separated. Lilian had been most disappointed when they discovered that fact the other day.
Kevin didn’t hesitate to strip out of his sticky clothes and put them in a locker. His bare feet padded along the white tiled floor as he stepped into the showers. Going to the nearest shower, he turned it onto his hottest setting then stood under the spray, enjoying the feel of hot water traveling down his back. It was only after standing there for nearly five minutes that he realized something.
“Crap, I forgot to grab soap and shampoo.”
He was just about to turn around and head back into the locker room for some soap—
“Do not worry, Master. I have soap and shampoo that you can use.”
—when a terrifyingly familiar female voice spoke up.
No. No, no, no, no. Please no. Please tell me that voice was just a figment of my imagination. Please tell that she didn’t really just walk into the men’s shower stalls.
The pitter-patter of feet made Kevin turn around. What he saw was a sight that was every bit as horrifying as it was arousing.
Her long hair, which was reminiscent to the color of honey, had been tied into a ponytail. Despite that, it was still long enough that it ran all the way down to her shapely derriere. Her slim waist was defined by a set of lovely hips, which ran down into a pair of thighs muscular enough to make him feel self-conscious. A few strands of her gleaming golden hair had been worked out of the ponytail. They framed the woman’s face, which could have passed off for royalty, such was the refined regality she possessed. A slender neck and slim yet defined shoulders worked down into a set of toned arms and a pair of breasts that were simply out of this world. She, like most yōkai he knew, seemed to define the term “drop dead gorgeous.”
“P-Phoebe.” Kevin tried to keep his eyes from straying down. He would not give into temptation! “W-what are you doing here?”
“I was on my way to the women’s bath house when I saw you walking to the showers. I noticed that you had none of the items necessary to take a shower, and so I decided to lend you my soap and shampoo,” she answered, licking her lips, her gaze traveling down.
Kevin squeaked and held his hands over his crotch. “J-just where the heck are you looking?! Stop staring at me like that!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Phoebe said in a voice so bland that Kevin almost believed her. Almost.
“Yeah, right. Eyes up top, Phoebe.”
“In either event,” Phoebe continued, “please do not hesitate to make use of my bath care products.”
“You’re ignoring me, aren’t you?! Why do you girls always ignore me when I tell you not to do something that you don’t want to do?!”
Kevin’s question went unanswered. Phoebe walked further into the room, and his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets when the yuma uba’s breasts bounced with each step. They were jiggling like jello. And maybe it was just him, but he could have sworn he heard a very flamboyant boing! every time they bounced.
“W-what are you doing?” Kevin asked, his voice squeaking like a frightened rat trapped within the paws of a cat. Phoebe continued moving inexorably forward, closing the distance as his back pressed against the wall.
“What do you mean? I am bringing you my bathroom supplies, obviously.”
“You could just set them on the floor. There’s no need to stick around!”
“Of course there is. This is the perfect time for us to bond as master and mistress. Furthermore, I have been told that skinship is an important part of the bonding process.”
“Where did you get that idea?!”
“Iris lent me one of your picture books.”
“Damn that vixen,” Kevin muttered. “And it’s manga, not picture books.”
Kevin couldn’t believe this was happening… though maybe in hindsight, he should have. He’d been so certain that Phoebe would try to appeal to Lilian ever since his mate had told the yuma uba that she needed her permission to mate with Kevin. It looked like they had underestimated this chick’s resolve.
“Now then,” Phoebe stepped even closer into his personal space, “please allow me to wash your back.”
“Listen to me when I’m talking to you, dang it!”
Kevin’s heart hammered in his chest as Phoebe walked even closer. The sound of her feet padding along the wet tile made his heart race. He needed to do something. He needed to get away from her.
The hairs on his arms suddenly prickled. They warned him of danger.
Phoebe lunged at him, suddenly and without warning. Kevin squealed like a little girl as he ducked. There was a harsh thud above him—the sound of someone’s face slamming into a wall. Kevin ignored it and scrambled out of the way before Phoebe could fall on top of him. He raced out of the shower room and grabbed his clothes. He was just about to put them on—
“Master Kevin!”
—When Phoebe burst into the room. She raced toward him like a stampeding bull, her powerful thigh muscles flexing as she moved quicker than most humans could track.
In a fit of panic, Kevin tossed his sweaty clothes at Phoebe and bolted out of the locker room, rushing down the hallway. Barely a second after he left, Phoebe also rushed into the hallway and chased after him.
“Wait, Master Kevin! You still haven’t cleaned up properly! Please allow me to help you clean up!”
“Not a chance!”
“But why not? What’s a little skinship between master and mistress?”
“I don’t even know where you got the idea that we are master and mistress!”
“It’s because of this—”
“If you mention anything about having read this in a manga, I’m going to shun you!”
The chase continued. Kevin raced down the halls, his heart pounding in time to the sounds of his bare feet hitting the tiles. Several other people were also walking down the halls, and all of them stopped to gawk at him and the girl chasing him. Kevin ignored this and continued to run. If he could just get to his apartment, he would be safe. He came up on a corner and turned down it—
“Kya!”
—and then promptly crashed into someone who just happened to be turning the same corner at the exact same time. He and the person he crashed into tumbled to the floor, him landing on top and the person he’d run into landing on the bottom.
Kevin groaned
as he pushed himself up. “W-what hit me?” he asked no one in particular.
“A-ahn!” a delicate moan sounded out underneath him.
He froze. Slowly, he panned his eyes down to look at the person he had landed on top of. Polydora lay on her back underneath him, her eyes closed and her skimpy yuma uba armor doing nothing to hide her impressive assets, which rose from her chest like two small mountains. His hands were cupping those same breasts, the chest piece having fallen away, the strings tying it together having loosened. Her nipples peaked out from between his fingers, which stiffened as he accidentally rubbed them.
“You… what… what is this?”
With the eyes of a frightened child, Kevin looked back up at Polydora’s face. She was staring at him, her eyes wide and her face red. He looked back down at his hands still cupping her breasts. Then he looked back up at her.
Polydora’s face grew steadily redder until it looked fit to explode.
“I don’t suppose an apology would suffice, would it?” asked Kevin in his most diplomatic voice.
Polydora’s face took on the color of a star going nova.
Then she exploded.
With rage.
***
“IIIYYYYAAAAA!”
Phoebe was just about to turn the corner that she had seen Kevin run down, when a loud, ear-piercing scream echoed across the entire hall. This was immediately followed by several shouts, which was then proceeded by objects suddenly flying out of the hallway.
Her wet feet slipped along the floor until she came to an inelegant stop. She was just in time, too, for not even a second after she stopped did Kevin come flying out of the hallway like a weak yōkai being chased by the Shinigami.
“You lecherous fiend!” a roar came from the hallway, along with several sharp and pointy objects.
“It was an accident!” Kevin shouted—then had to immediately duck to avoid getting his head bashed in by a crowbar that came flying out from the hallway.
“How dare you grope my chest like that!”
A large dresser drawer suddenly flew out from the hall. Kevin ducked, and the dresser smashed against the adjacent wall, shattering into thousands of wooden splinters.
A Fox's Hostility Page 18
