However, because illusions were so complex, they required intense focus and imagination. Not only did illusionists need to focus on who they were casting an illusion on, but they also needed to visualize exactly what it was supposed to look like, how it would feel, what the other person would smell… everything. If they didn’t do that, then there was a good possibility that the person would realize they were under an illusion and break it.
Lilian’s frown spoke volumes about her thoughts. “I see. There is a lot more to crafting realistic illusions than I thought there would be.”
Nodding, Kotohime said, “There is, but try not to let it get you down too much. This is not something that can be learned through lectures and study. Only real-life experience can teach you how to craft convincing illusions while in a combat situation.”
Lilian grimaced. “So you’re saying I need to fight more if I want to get better, is that it?”
“More or less.” Kotohime’s placid smile held hints of amusement. “But then, is that not why you asked me to help train you?”
“Yeah…”
“And speaking of training, may I ask Lilian-sama why she has come to me for help?” the swordswoman inquired. “I’ll admit that I am pleased to see you asking me to help you become stronger. However, you have never asked me for help before. I had assumed that you had no desire to learn how to fight.”
Lilian breathed out an exhausted sigh as she lowered herself to the ground. The grass was wet, but she paid it no mind and absently plucked several blades of grass from the ground, releasing them and letting them blow away in the wind.
Kotohime remained silent. She knew that Lilian would speak when she was ready.
“Honestly, I don’t really want to learn how to fight,” Lilian said at last. “I’ve never been interested in fighting, just like I’ve never been interested in my family’s political games. All I’ve ever wanted to do was live to the beat of my own drum, to live how I want, without being bogged down by the many codes of conduct and etiquette the matriarch forced on me. More than that, I didn’t want to get involved in the secret wars and political backstabbing that goes on in our world.”
Lilian placed her hands on the ground behind her and leaned back, looking up at the cloudless blue sky.
“That’s part of the reason I ran away.”
“And the other reason was to find your mate, no doubt,” Kotohime teased. “You know that you’re very lucky to have run into him like you did. The United States is a big place. For you to end up in the same state as the one you decided to mate with is nothing short of astounding.”
“I guess so.”
A short interlude of silence pervaded the pair. Lilian frowned as she thought of what would have happened if she’d never bumped into Kevin. Would she have continued searching? Moving from place to place? Would she have ever found Kevin? Or would she have eventually been captured by yōkai who’d have had no trouble enslaving and breaking a young kitsune like her? The thought made her shiver.
“Anyway, I guess the reason I’m asking for your help is because I’ve realized something.”
“Oh?” Kotohime looked at her ward with interest.
“Even if I want nothing to do with the kitsune world, with the yōkai world, that doesn’t necessarily mean I can just ignore it. Our spring break showed me this. No matter where I go, no matter how far I try to run, this world is something that I’ll never be able to truly escape from.”
It was something that Lilian had always feared. She’d spoken to Kevin about it, but he’d always told her not to worry, that she should have more confidence in him. However, it wasn’t confidence in him that she lacked now. It was confidence in herself.
“And also, I guess I’m doing this because I feel guilty.”
“Lilian-sama?”
Lilian looked up at Kotohime, the smile on her face trembling. “Kevin is working so hard, training every day to get stronger for me, but the only reason he’s doing it is because I’ve forced him to. It never really occurred to me until recently, but if I had never met Kevin, if he never found me in that alley when I was injured, then he would have probably lived a normal life, free of the danger that comes from being involved in our world. I pulled him into this world, the world of yōkai.” She sat up straight and looked at her hands, clenching and unclenching them. “How could I force him to grow stronger in order to stand by my side if I’m not willing to grow as well?”
Kevin was learning to fight for her. Every day he went to Kiara and trained for her. He was growing stronger, becoming more capable, more able to protect himself, and all of it was for her. He was getting stronger every day and what was she doing? She was enjoying her life without a care in the world. She didn’t deserve someone like Kevin if she was unwilling to step up.
Thinking of Kevin made her remember the past few days, and her mood began to lessen.
Ever since the convention, Kevin hadn’t been himself. He acted the same way, and he could fool his friends and everyone else, but she knew that something was wrong. He tossed as he slept, he woke up in a cold sweat, and sometimes he would mumble in his sleep. He was suffering. It hurt her to see him like that. It hurt even more that he refused to speak to her about it.
The feeling of a hand on her shoulder startled Lilian. She looked up into the smiling face of her bodyguard, who appeared very pleased by something.
“It seems you have finally begun to mature, Lilian-sama,” Kotohime said. “I am pleased to see how well you’re growing. It appears that coming to the human world and getting your mate has been very good for you.”
Lilian brightened. “You think so?”
“Oh, yes.” Kotohime nodded her head. “And speaking of mates, perhaps we should head back home and see if yours has returned yet.”
“Yes!”
***
Kirihime sighed as she exited the bedroom where her mistress had taken residence. After that embarrassing interlude in which she’d found herself being shoved face-first into her mistress’s, uh, well, between her mistress’s thighs, it had taken nearly an hour to get Lady Camellia dry and even twice as long to get her clothed. After that, she’d had to deal with her mistress’s natural clumsiness. This meant running around, trying to keep the woman from tripping over her own two feet.
She truly loved Lady Camellia, however, sometimes that woman caused her so much trouble.
Fortunately, she could rest easy now. Camellia had fallen asleep after exhausting all of her energy, much like a child who, in their never-ending enthusiasm, ran around for several hours before passing out.
Since she didn’t need to attend to her mistress, Kirihime thought it would be a nice gesture if she made dinner for everyone. Her sister was currently working hard to help Lady Lilian grow stronger, and Lady Lilian and Lord Kevin were also working hard. Cooking dinner was the least she could do for them.
Gently humming an old Japanese lullaby that her sister had taught her, Kirihime prepared a stir-fry using the leftover meat she had from her last kill. She would have done some more hunting, but she didn’t need any leather right now. She had all of the leather that she would need for her latest project.
“I wonder if Lord Kevin will enjoy the present I’m making for him,” she thought out loud.
Lord Kevin was such a nice young man, respectful, compassionate, and possessing an unusual capacity for acceptance.
She’d heard the story of how Lady Lilian had first entered his life. She had been both shocked and appalled by how the young kitsune interrupted his daily lifestyle. While what she’d done from a kitsune perspective was not wrong, per say, and Kirihime would never disapprove of her actions, her execution had been awful.
On the other side of things, Lord Kevin had shown remarkable kindness toward someone who had, for all intents and purposes, ruined his life. He allowed Lady Lilian to stay with him despite not liking her, treated her with respect in spite of the girl’s constant—not to mention poorly executed—attempts at seducing him, and
he had even protected her whenever she found herself in trouble. Lord Kevin’s ability to accept others and his innate kindness was quite remarkable. She was very grateful to him, even more so since Kevin had eventually accepted and returned Lady Lilian’s love.
The click of the front door opening made Kirihime perk up.
“I’m home,” a tired voice sounded out. Male. It was Lord Kevin.
Kirihime smiled as she turned and walked into the living room, greeting Lord Kevin with a smile.
“Good evening, Lord Kevin—oh, dear, are you feeling well? You look pale.”
Lord Kevin’s face was, indeed, unnaturally pale. He always had sun-kissed skin from spending so much time outdoors, but now it was ghostly white. A cold sweat had formed along his forehead.
Lord Kevin gave Kirihime a conflicted smile. “I’m fine. Is Lilian here? And where’s Iris?”
“Lady Lilian has not returned from training with my sister,” Kirihime responded with a frown.
“Training?”
“As for Lady Iris, well, I think she is in your room.” Kirihime walked up to Kevin and observed his unsteady gait with increasing worry. “Are you sure that you’re all right? You look, well, forgive my saying so, but you do not look very… um, healthy, right now.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I really am fine,” Lord Kevin said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” When Lord Kevin just stared at her, Kirihime flushed and quickly amended her statement. “W-what I mean is that if you wished to talk about whatever it is you’re thinking about, I am willing to listen. I know you’re not as close to me as you are to Lilian and Iris, or even my sister, but I would like to support you however I can.”
Lord Kevin stared at her for several long seconds, biting his lower lip in indecision. Kirihime couldn’t help but notice how this made him look much younger than his usual demeanor presented. He always acted so mature. Seeing him like this made her realize that he was still very young.
“Do you… do you think I’m a monster?” Lord Kevin finally asked, much to Kirihime’s shock.
“A monster? Of course not! Why would I ever think that?”
How could this boy possibly think something like that? Lord Kevin, a monster? The very notion was ridiculous.
“No reason,” Lord Kevin said.
“Is this about what happened during the convention?” Kirihime asked. The grimace that her question elicited told her all she needed to know.
Maybe it was because of how despondent Lord Kevin looked, but Kirihime found herself pulling the young man into a comforting embrace. She turned his head on its side and drew him close, allowing him to use her bosoms as a pillow. He stiffened at first, but eventually relaxed. He reached up and wrapped his arms around her waist, as if hoping to draw comfort from her hug.
“Lord Kevin,” Kirihime breathed out, lowering her head to rest her cheek on his hair. “No one here will ever think that you’re a monster. Not me, not Kotohime, not Lady Iris or My Lady Camellia, and certainly not Lady Lilian. We all love you very much.”
Kevin didn’t say anything, and Kirihime did not ask him to. Being a kitsune, and one who was particularly inured to violence due to the circumstances revolving around her life, she couldn’t imagine what he must have been going through.
A cough interrupted this otherwise touching moment.
Kevin and Kirihime froze. Slowly, oh so slowly, their heads turned simultaneously to see a deadpan Lilian, an amused Kotohime, and a grinning Iris staring at them.
“Uh…” Kevin thought fast. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Really?” Iris said, chuckling, her eyes filled with mirth. “Because it looks to me like you two are getting awfully cozy with each other—not that I mind,” she added. “If you and Kirihime get together, it means I’ll get Lily-pad all to myself.”
“Be quiet, Iris,” Lilian demanded with a stern glare before turning back to Kevin and Kirihime. She placed her hands on her hips and gave them a look that Kirihime couldn’t quite identify, but nevertheless, she found it frightening. “Kirihime, I had no idea that you loved Kevin so much. Don’t tell me that you’re trying to become his mistress?”
“Ah!”
Kirihime’s body unfroze itself, and she reacted in a manner that was most unbefitting of a maid.
“Kya!”
She shoved Kevin away, which caused him to stumble back, trip, and subsequently crack his head on the table. She ignored this, busy as she was waving her hands in front of her face in frantic motions.
“T-this is not what it looks like, Lady Lilian! I-I would never think of stealing your mate! Honestly! I was just hoping to comfort Lord Kevin because he seemed so depressed. I think he brings out my motherly instincts!”
A pause.
“N-not that I want to be his mother or anything, you understand. He already has a mother. I-it’s just that, if I did have a son, I think I would want him to be like Lord Kevin.”
“Ufufufu… so my sister is beginning to feel some motherly affection towards Kevin-sama? How cute.”
Kirihime blushed. Lilian sighed, and Iris? She made a face.
“I didn’t even know you had motherly instincts. Aren’t you a crazy yandere?”
Kirihime’s blush was soon combined with a pout. “T-that’s not a very nice thing to say, Lady Iris. I’m not a crazy yandere.”
“Indeed.” Kotohime nodded. “My sister only has mild yandere tendencies, and they only really activate when she’s fighting.” Kotohime paused, her mien turning thoughtful, as if something had just occurred to her. “Or when she’s jealous. My sister can be quite possessive, ufufufu…”
“M-mou.” Kirihime pouted some more.
“Ufufufu,” Lilian giggled. “I was only teasing you, Kirihime. I know that you don’t love Kevin like that.”
“O-oh?” Kirihime was relieved, but then she realized that Lilian had just pranked her. She puffed up her cheeks like a squirrel that had several acorns in its mouth. “T-that wasn’t very nice.”
“Speaking of the stud,” Iris added, eyes trailing over to where Kevin lay on the floor in an expanding pool of blood. “We might want to get him some stitches or something. It looks like he cracked his head open.”
“Inari blessed! Beloved!”
As Lilian panicked and rushed over to Kevin, Kirihime blushed.
That was totally her fault, wasn’t it?
***
It was very fortunate for Kevin that Lilian and Kotohime were both talented healers. Not long after he cracked his head open did Lilian heal his wounds.
He woke up about half an hour later. An apologetic Kirihime had fretted over him, and, in spite of telling her not to worry about it, she’d tried to take care of him for the rest of the day. This didn’t work out so well. Kirihime was so used to taking care of Camellia that she didn’t know how to take care of someone else.
Fortunately, Kotohime had recognized this and convinced Kirihime to give him some space. The last he saw of Kirihime was of her walking to her room with slumped shoulders reminiscent of a sulking child.
Kevin stood on the balcony. The night sky hovered overhead, a million glimmering stars that looked like tiny pebbles.
He knew that, logically, the stars dotting the night sky were actually gigantic, bigger even than the Earth, but from where he stood, they looked like mere pinpricks within a vast ocean of dark velvet. It was almost amazing how something so large could appear so small. It made him feel minuscule in comparison.
Everyone else was asleep, or so he assumed. Lilian and Iris certainly had been when he left the bed. He knew that he should have been sleeping, too, as he had another day of school tomorrow.
I watched as her body fell to the ground. Watched as she twitched before going still. Watched as blood pooled around her and formed a small puddle. Watched as her eyes, vacant and sightless, gazed upon nothing.
But he couldn’t go to slee
p. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that woman’s body, saw her getting jerked about as bullets penetrated her flesh, saw the spray of blood, saw her twitching and spasming before going still, and her eyes staring at him accusingly…
He pressed a hand to his face, shuddering. When would this nightmare end?
“I was wondering where you had gone off to,” a voice said from behind him.
“Iris,” Kevin said weakly as the vixen in question walked up to him.
Her two tails, blacker than even the night sky, swayed enticingly behind her body, which was barely covered by her tiny negligee. He watched with a sense of fascination as her tails coiled around her legs and torso like velvety serpents.
Kevin shook his head. There was something seriously wrong with him if he was thinking about how hot Iris’s tails were.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Iris questioned. “Your mate’s probably missing your warmth right about now.”
“What about you?” Kevin shot back. “I’m surprised you didn’t use this opportunity to your advantage to try and cuddle up to your sister.”
“I thought about doing that,” Iris admitted shamelessly. Kevin almost shook his head, but doing so would have probably made him vomit at the moment. “But I suppose you could say my curiosity got the better of me. You interest me.”
Her eyes, dark and mysterious and smoldering, burned into his like twin coals. Her lips curved into an artfully sensational smile. He turned away, trying to ignore the way his heart hammered at the sight.
Iris chuckled. “Even after all that’s happened, you’re still so innocent. How cute.”
“Did you have a reason for coming out here other than to bother me?” Kevin asked.
“Lilian is worried about you.” That single statement made Kevin wince. “You might think you’re being kind by not letting her know what you’re going through, but in truth, all you’re doing is hurting her. She knows that something is wrong, and the fact that you aren’t opening up makes her think you don’t like her, or that you don’t trust her.”
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