Kevin sank into Lilian’s embrace and readily returned it. “I know.”
Some people might have found their relationship to be odd, but Kevin enjoyed their constant bickering. It was always about inconsequential stuff, like which manga was better or genre savvy jokes about his harem… which didn’t exist. It helped keep their troubled spirits lifted and off the problems they were currently facing.
“And you say I’m cruel,” Iris huffed as she crossed her arms. “I think the cruel ones are you two. It’s cruel when you get all close and cuddly like that and exclude me.”
Kevin opened his mouth to tell Iris to stow it, but Lilian unwound one of her tails from him and used it to pull Iris into their hug.
“There,” the redhead said cheerfully, “better?”
“Much.”
As Kevin found himself engulfed in a hug by two beautiful kitsune, he wondered what he should do. There were two pairs of mountains pressing into him. The soft elasticity of their breasts, the warmth of their bodies, and the overwhelmingly arousing aroma coming from them was leaving him dizzy.
Should I push Iris away?
He wanted to, but Lilian had invited her into the hug. What should he do? He didn’t know if he was comfortable with this, but… well, it wasn’t like Iris wasn’t already sleeping with them. Ugh. Why the hell did their relationship have to be so complicated?
“Eek!” Kevin squeaked. “All right! Which one of you pinched my left butt cheek?”
“Uhuhuhu, that was me.”
Kevin twitched several times as Iris looked at him with doe eyes.
She was so sleeping on the couch tonight.
***
“There you are, Fred! I’ve been lookin’ all over for ya.”
“Something up?”
Axel came up alongside Frederic, who’d been lost in thought. The itachi was grinning a sly grin, which Frederic had seen many times, usually after his friend had done something daring, stupid, or both.
“We all know that you’ve been depressed because Lilian turned you down for that human.”
“Uh, no, that’s not—”
“But you don’t need to worry about them anymore.”
Axel interrupted Frederic, who’d been trying to tell his friend that wasn’t the reason he was so quiet anymore—until he heard those words.
They stopped in the middle of the hallway. Fortunately, this hall wasn’t crowded, meaning no one would complain to them about cutting off the flow of traffic.
“What do you mean?”
Axel’s sharper than average teeth flashed in the light as he grinned. “I’m saying that we’re planning on teaching those two a lesson today, one they won’t soon forget.”
The lesson, as it turned out, was ambushing the two as they were coming back from the parking garage. One of their friends had been following the duo for a while now, and they had alerted the others once the pair was in a more deserted section of the base. The garage wasn’t used very often. Only people designated by Monstrang left the base, so no one else ever came up this way.
Frederic swallowed the words that were buried in his throat. He wanted to tell his friends that they should turn around and go back, but how could he? They were doing this for him. He couldn’t just tell them not to do this because he’d been rethinking his position in this matter.
Kevin and Lilian were walking down one of the aisles, cars lined up on either side. The redhead was holding a plastic bag to her chest, hugging it as if it was the most precious commodity in the entire universe. Her excited green eyes sparkled with enough vivacity that even Frederic could tell she was stoked about something.
“I can’t wait to read this! I’ve been wanting to read this manga ever since it came out!”
“I’m glad you’re excited.”
“What’s wrong? Do you not want to read this?”
“Of course I do. I’m just a little wary about anything involving harems right now.”
“Ufufufu, so that’s what this is about. Don’t worry. I told you before, didn’t I? So long as you don’t want a harem, I won’t let the other girls have you.”
“So you say, but you sounded like you were about to pawn me off to Phoebe this morning.”
“Mugyu, that was just a joke.”
“No random catch phrases today, please.”
Watching Lilian and Kevin like this, grinning from ear to ear as they bantered back and forth about stuff he knew next to nothing about, made Frederic wonder about them. They really did seem to get along.
“You guys ready?” asked Axel, who received several nods from the four yōkai with him.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Frederic said at last.
“What do you mean?” Axel appeared perplexed. “Isn’t this what you wanted? You wanted to teach those two a lesson, right?”
“Well, I—”
“This is the only way we can do that, so let’s go.”
The group of five leapt from the sides of the vehicle they’d hunkered behind and rushed at the two. Frederic tried to yell at his friends, but the words caught in his throat. All he could do was hide behind the Hummer and watch from a distance.
Kevin and Lilian seemed startled to see so many yōkai rushing at them—at least, at first. However, they still responded to this clear threat with an ease that startled Frederic.
“Celestial Art: Light Inversion.”
Four of the five yōkai charging at them suddenly stumbled. Then they fell forward onto their hands and knees. Frederic didn’t know what was going on, but only Axel continued to charge at the pair.
Kevin met his charge head-on. When Axel tried to claw the blond human’s face off, he slid underneath the blow, bending his knees and raising his forearm to push Axel’s arm up and over his shoulder. He then twisted around until his back was facing Axel’s front, grabbed the extended arm with both hands, kicked out the itachi’s feet, and flipped him around. Axel slammed onto the ground with a loud crash! and an equally noisy whoosh! As the teen yōkai lay gasping on the ground, Kevin knocked him out by kicking him in the temple.
“Gomu Gomu no Extension!”
Lilian’s tails were like a rubber man’s arms. They shot out swifter than a bullet and slammed two of Axel’s friends into the ground. Their heads were the target, and the ferocity with which Lilian slammed her tails into them caused the ground underneath their heads to dent. During this time, Kevin heel dropped another one of his friends. While their face didn’t crack the pavement, the yōkai’s body went limp all the same.
“D-damn you!” one of the still conscious yōkai stood to his feet, legs shaking and eyes struggling to look at his opponent’s face. He blinked several times as though he had trouble seeing. “You’ll pay for this!”
“Yeah… no.”
Kevin leapt into the air, his body twisting like a top. He slammed his two feet into the yōkai’s chest, which rang out loudly in the garage. The yōkai went flying while Kevin flipped backward and landed feet first on the ground.
The yōkai couldn’t do anything as Lilian fired what looked like a ball of compressed light, which exploded in his face. While he was rolling around on the floor, covering his eyes and screaming in pain, Kevin jumped onto his chest, driving all the air from the other boy’s lungs.
“Kitsune Art: Illusory Sleep.”
Lilian touched the yōkai’s temple with her tails, the tips of which glowed a bright yellow. The yōkai’s eyes slowly drooped. His head dropped to the ground and his body went limp, sleep overtaking him.
T-these two… Frederic gulped in fear and a little awe. They just took out five yōkai in less than a minute! Who are these two?!
“Well,” Kevin stepped off the now unconscious yōkai’s chest, “that just happened. Though I never expected to be ambushed within the base—not by yōkai at least.”
“Aren’t these what’s his face’s friends?”
Wh-what’s his face?! Frederic lamented. She doesn’t even remember my name!
; “You know what? I think they are.” Kevin knelt down and studied one of the unconscious yōkai up close. “Yep. I remember this guy. I think his name was… Anvil? No, Avil!”
“I think it was asshole,” Lilian supplied.
It’s Axel! Frederic screamed mentally—because he was too afraid to scream out loud.
“So, what should we do with these guys?” asked Kevin.
“Well, we definitely can’t just let them go free after they attacked us.” Lilian thought for a moment, then laughed a devious little laugh. “Ufufufu, I think this calls for some punishment.”
Frederic bit his lip. He didn’t want his friends to suffer whatever punishment Lilian had in mind for them. He remembered their talk about what a kitsune did to people who displeased them. At the same time, they kind of deserved some form of punishment. Indecision warred within him for a moment before, with a resigned sigh, he stepped out from behind the Hummer.
“Hey, aren’t you, uh, um, Friday, right?” Lilian asked.
“It’s Frederic,” he grumbled. He was beginning to like Lilian a little less now.
“Right, Frederic.” Lilian nodded as if she’d suspected that was his real name all along. “So, did you set your friends up to this?”
“N-no.” Frederic did not like the look in Lilian’s eyes. It made him want to run away, screaming like a little girl. “I didn’t set them up to this. I… I tried to stop them.”
Lilian’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “I don’t believe you. I might not remember your name, but I remember how you tried picking a fight with my beloved.”
“I’m telling the truth,” Frederic defended. “I didn’t set them up to this. They were the ones who wanted to pick a fight. Not me.”
Frederic gulped as Lilian stared him down. Her eyes, normally bright and vibrant like jewels, were harder and held an edge that he’d never seen before. Suddenly, all those rumors he’d dismissed about kitsune and their mates held a much more truthful ring to it.
“I think he’s telling the truth.”
“Beloved?”
Kevin placed a hand on Lilian’s shoulder. “I think we should believe him, if for no other reason than because I’d rather not have to worry about guarding my back as well as my front.”
While Frederic felt shock course through him, Lilian and Kevin held a conversation with their eyes. He didn’t know what was being said, but in that moment, he felt very much like an intruder.
“Fine,” Lilian sighed, “I suppose I’ve got no choice but to believe him, too.”
Frederic sighed in relief.
“However!” Lilian barked, and Frederic’s spine cracked as he almost jumped out of his skin. “Just because I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you get away without receiving punishment.”
“WHAT?!”
Kevin nodded in agreement. “I think that’s fair. Your friends did attack us, after all, and you were clearly hiding with them and yet you did nothing to stop them.”
Frederic was about ready to get down on his knees and beg.
“B-but we—I mean, you—”
“Now, now. Don’t try to escape your just deserts. Just accept it and be happy that I’ve decided to be lenient with your punishment.”
At the sight of Lilian’s cheerful smile, Frederic could do nothing more than whimper.
***
Lilian wore a very satisfied smile the next day. Iris had asked her about it that morning, but she didn’t want to spoil the surprise. All she told her sister was, “I have a feeling that something good is going to happen today.”
“Oh. My. Gods. I think I’ve put on some weight.”
“It must be how we’re stuck in this base all day. We can’t get out and go shopping anymore. That’s how I get most of my exercise.”
“Ugh, I wish this whole issue with that law against yōkai would hurry up and blow over. I’d like to get back to my normal life.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen…”
Lilian silently listened to the other girls’ griping as she stripped off her top—the green off-the-shoulder shirt that had become her signature outfit—and then slid her shorts down her hips and stepped out of them. She changed into her gym uniform. The shirt felt a little tight against her chest, but she didn’t mind.
I wonder if I should dress up in this for Kevin, she mused to herself, humming My Soul, Your Beats, the opening theme to an anime she and Kevin watched last night. We could play the pervy PE coach and the naive schoolgirl… or maybe we could do the naughty schoolgirl who gets punished by the PE coach! So many possibilities…
“Okay, Lily-pad, you’re seriously beginning to freak me out,” Iris declared as they, now dressed in their PE clothes, walked to the gym. “You’ve been humming different anime opening theme songs all day. What the hell happened to make you so happy? Did the stud finally lose his self-control and fuck you like a kitsune in heat?”
“Nope!” Lilian chirped. “If that had happened, he and I would still be in bed, not going to school.”
Iris would have also been in bed with them, or so Lilian hoped, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud. People might think she was weird.
“Then what are you so cheerful about?”
“Ufufufu, you’ll see.”
“I hate it when you get all cryptic like this. Come on, why can’t you just… tell… me… eh?”
Iris and the other girls all ceased walking the moment they stepped into the gym. Lilian didn’t even bother to hide her grin as she admired her handiwork, which everyone was staring at.
It was the six yōkai from the other day, the same ones who’d attacked her and her beloved. They’d been stripped down to their underwear, and their bodies had been covered in strange graffiti. One had penises drawn all over his body, including one peeping pecker that looked like it was halfway inside of his mouth. Another had strange swirly patterns all over his body. And still another looked like a geisha. They were hanging from the rafters, their bodies bound like a bad case of Shibari gone wrong. They also had ball gags shoved in their mouths, hampering their ability to talk. Several of them were wide awake and trying to scream, but all that came out of their mouths was muffled squeals and drool.
“Lilian, did you…?”
“Yes, sister of mine. Yes, I did.”
“And is that…?”
“Yes, that is a ladle sticking out of his hindquarters.”
“I see…”
Whispers broke out amongst the girls. Lilian’s ears twitched as she listened in. Her smile widened at some of the comments she heard. Most of the girls were appalled, but a few seemed to think it was funny. The nekomata in particular thought it was amusing.
“This… actually feels kind of nostalgic.” Iris sniffed and wiped a stray tear from her eye. “I remember when you would do stuff like this to your suitors.” Her lips twitched into a grin. “They never were the same after that.”
“I know,” Lilian snickered.
Just then, Heather walked in through the doors, decked out in her coach’s uniform. She opened her mouth, most likely to tell the girls that they were blocking the way, but she stopped upon seeing the teenage boys hanging from the rafters.
She paused. Then…
“Is that a ladle poking out of his keester?”
“Yes,” Lilian answered with a grin that put the Cheshire Cat to shame. “Yes, it is.”
“Uh-huh. I take it this is your doing?”
“Yep.”
“Cool. However, if you ever plan on stripping people naked and hanging them by rafters again, then please use one of the other gym rooms. Okay?”
“Got it.”
“Good.”
With that, Heather blew her whistle and class began.
Frederic and his friends were still hanging from the rafters.
CHAPTER 8
THE DAY OF CAMELLIA
“Hahaha! Catch me if you can, Kiri-Kiri!”
“M-My Lady Camellia,
p-please stop running around and put some clothes on!”
It was just another day at the Pnév̱ma residence. Of course, calling their place a residence might have been an overstatement since the two-bedroom apartment they lived in was relatively small. It didn’t even have a shower or bath, though it at least had a toilet.
The morning was early and, as was the case with most days, Camellia was running around the small apartment naked.
Kirihime huffed as she raced after her mistress. Despite having the mentality of a child and being about twice as graceless, Camellia could be surprisingly nimble when she wanted. Kirihime had been chasing the older woman all throughout the apartment that morning, ever since waking her mistress up, in fact.
I-I really wish she would at least sleep with some pajamas on…
Camellia swerved to the side just when Kirihime thought she had the woman, causing her to almost plant her face into the wall. She avoided having her nose broken, barely, and quickly turned around to see her mistress leaving the apartment.
“Oh, no,” Kirihime whispered in horror. A naked Camellia running around the base was not something she wanted to deal with.
This is not good!
Kirihime burst out the door. She didn’t even bother locking up and just ran down the hall, using the enhancement technique to run faster.
“Lady Camellia!”
She turned a corner and was just in time to see Camellia standing inside of an elevator, the doors slowly sliding shut.
“Bye, bye, Kiri-Kiri!” Camellia waved at Kirihime, who rushed for the door. However, not even the enhancement technique gave her enough speed to reach her mistress before the doors shut. Kirihime slammed into the door, then fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.
“This… this is really not good. Not good at all.”
***
Kevin, dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt that conformed to his torso, exited the locker room and began the long walk back to his apartment.
His muscles ached from his most recent exercises. He and Kiara had been trying to discover more about his power. They had learned a lot through experimentation. It seemed his strange ability only worked on barriers, but they didn’t work on anything else, which he’d learned the hard way after suffering several full-on youki attacks from the powerful inu.
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