A Fox's Maid

by Brandon Varnell

  “Hey!”

  “On the other hand, I am an experienced and cultured young man who has already dated several girls, and therefore, have more knowledge about them than you.”

  “Ugh, whatever.” Kevin found that he didn’t have any ground to stand on in this argument, so he just dropped the subject. “At least I can run faster than you.”

  Chase’s face turned red. “That won’t always be the case! You might be having your fifteen minutes of fame right now, but just wait, I’ll eventually catch up to you, and when I do, you’ll be eating my dust!”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

  “Chase, Swift! If you’ve got time to be arguing, you’ve got time to do some running! Get over here!”

  “Yes, Coach!” They gave each other one last glare before jogging over to the starting line.

  ***

  The library was the only place outside of the locker rooms that remained open while the gym was undergoing repairs.

  A large cylindrical building made of brick, grass and steel, the library looked like a giant rectangle with a single spire jutting out of the ground from its hindquarters.

  Bookshelves lined the walls and created numerous aisles for people to walk down. A small section near the cylindrical spire was dedicated to computer stations, while the center contained tables and chairs for people to read or do their homework at.

  Lilian Pnév̱ma sat at one of the tables reading a shōjo manga, a love story, and one that she hadn’t read yet. Perhaps it was a little odd for a girl, but she’d always been a bigger fan of shōnen than shōjo. She just preferred stories with more action.

  Lilian wasn’t reading this manga for the sheer enjoyment of it, however. Oh no. She was researching. Her eyes scanned each page, studying everything within them in great detail. Only after she had memorized the entire page would she move onto the next.

  As she continued reading, a scowl crossed her face.

  “Why doesn’t this thing have any useful information?!”

  “Shhh!”

  Lilian ignored the strange shushing noises coming from all around her. She also ignored the glares she could feel at her back. They weren’t important. “Doesn’t this stupid thing have anything I can use in it?!”

  “SSHHH!!”

  “Lilian?”

  Looking up from her manga, Lilian saw Lindsay standing before her holding what looked like a soccer manual.

  “Hello, Lindsay,” Lilian said morosely. She went back to studying her manga.

  “Everything okay? You seem a little down.”

  “Yeah… I’m fine,” she mumbled.

  “Uh huh…” Lindsay’s tone conveyed skepticism, but she didn’t inquire any further. “So what are you doing here?”

  “Researching.”

  “Researching?” Lindsay sat down opposite of Lilian. “What are you researching exactly?”

  Lilian sighed, but stopped paying attention to her manga. It wasn’t helping anyway. “I’ve been trying to research ways to help me get closer to Kevin.”

  Lindsay looked bemused. “And you’re doing that by reading manga?”

  “Kevin had this manga in his collection, so he must like it. I thought there would be something in here that I could use to bring us closer together. It’s also a surprisingly good story,” she admitted. “Though it hasn’t given me any helpful ideas.”

  Lindsay slowly shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand your enjoyment of manga. Kevin, I get. He’s a guy. They like comics and stuff―”

  “Manga,” Lilian interrupted.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s called manga, not comics. Comics are made in America. Manga are from Japan.”

  “Same difference.” Lilian’s resulting frown made Lindsay feel like she’d stepped on a bed of spikes. “A-anyway, it doesn’t really change my point. Guys like that kind of stuff. They enjoy stories with explosions and superpowers and whatnot. But you’re a girl, so I don’t know why you’d enjoy reading something like that.”

  “You just don’t understand because you’ve never read a manga before,” Lilian insisted. “These aren’t just stories filled with cool battles. A lot of manga are actually really complex, and can cover everything from life-lessons to differences in moral philosophies and how there’s no such thing as good or evil, just shades of gray. There’s a lot of intriguing concepts in here, and the artwork is beautiful. Besides, not all manga are action stories.”

  Lilian held up the manga she’d been reading.

  “This one is, for example, is a romance. It’s about a girl with jet-black hair, a sinister smile and a silent demeanor. Because of this, she’s often mistaken for a horror movie character called Sadako. However, behind her scary demeanor is a misunderstood teenager. All she wants to do is make friends, but she’s just too shy to fit in. When a popular boy from her school befriends her, she makes more than just friends―she makes enemies, too. It’s a very sweet romance, and it won the best Shōjo Manga award several years ago.”

  “Okay, I’ll admit, that does sound kind of interesting.” Lilian smiled in triumph, but Lindsay soon burst her bubble. “However, I don’t see how this manga will have anything that you can use. You’re hardly the shy, misunderstood heroine.”

  “I was actually putting Kevin in place of the shy, misunderstood heroine.”

  At that very moment on the track field, Kevin Swift felt an inexplicable sense of shame and self-loathing, along with a major drop in his HP gauge. This caused him to trip over his own two feet as he raced down the track, which subsequently caused him to face-plant into the hard polyurethane.

  Lindsay snorted. “I doubt he’d appreciate that. And I still don’t think you’d find anything useful. He might not be the most outgoing person I know, but he’s not one of the shy, unpopular types either.”

  “I know.” Lilian slumped in her seat. “I was just hoping I would be able to find something useful in here. None of my H-series have helped me, so I wanted to try something different.”

  “H-series? What is… no. You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know.” A pause. “Anyway, I thought I told you not to worry and just let things go at their own pace. Kevin likes you, that much is obvious to anyone who’s seen you two together. You just need to give him some time to figure this out.”

  “I don’t want to wait for him to figure this out!” Lilian growled and stood up before slamming her hands on the table, just because she could. “I want to be with him now! My heart is aching for him and my body yearns for his touch.” She slammed her hands on the table… again. “I’m sick and tired of waiting! I want him to profess his love, then bend me over this table and ravish me until I’ve screamed myself hoarse!”

  By the end of her rant, Lilian was shouting. Loudly. Very loudly. Nearly everyone in the library had heard her thunderous, ear-piercing rant, and they all stared at her, eyes wide and jaws dropped. The librarian looked absolutely scandalized.

  “Uh…” Lindsay blushed as she stared at her friend. Heavily. Her nose was also bleeding, and she discreetly wiped it off with her sleeve before anyone could notice. “Lilian… you… did you really have to…”

  “What?”

  “N-nothing. Never mind.”

  Lilian frowned at the tomboy. She opened her mouth, but didn’t get a chance to speak.

  “Lilian Pnév̱ma!” A loud shout reverberated throughout the room. Lilian groaned as she turned to see Ms. Vis stomping up to them, her expression marred by RIGHTEOUS ANGER™―and indignation, but mostly RIGHTEOUS ANGER™. “How dare you―in all my years―why, I’ve never. How could you say something so shameless? And in a library of all places!”

  Lilian grimaced. She so did not need this.

  Ms. Vis clearly didn’t care what she needed, and continued ranting. “I do not know how your parents raised you, but they clearly did not do a very good job. You cannot shout in a library, and you should never say something so… so scandalous in public, or anywhere for that m
atter. It appears that someone must educate you on proper, lady-like behavior. I believe it is time that you and I had a very long heart-to-heart conversation, young woman.”

  “Um, no.”

  Lilian stared at the pasty-looking vampire-esque teacher, enforcing her will upon the older woman through the use of an enchantment. She watched, satisfied when she saw the lights in the older woman’s eyes dim.

  “You and I don’t need to have a conversation,” Lilian said, waving her hand through the air.

  “We don’t need to have a conversation…” Ms. Vis droned.

  “We have already spoken at great length about this, and have come to an understanding.” Another hand wave.

  “We have already spoken at great length and come to an understanding….”

  “Now, you are going to go out, buy several gallons of rubbing alcohol and take a bath in it.” One last hand wave.

  “I need to buy several gallons of rubbing alcohol and take a bath…”

  As Ms. Vis walked out of the library, Lilian sat back down, looking satisfied.

  Lindsay stared. “W-what just happened?”

  “Hm?” Lilian tilted her head, before she realized what Lindsay was asking about. “Oh, that? Don’t worry.” She waved a hand dismissively. “That was just me using my Jedi mind trick to make Ms. Vis leave us alone.”

  Lindsay blinked, the time it took for her to compute Lilian’s sentence. Ever so slowly, she nodded.

  “Okay. Right. I understand. Every girl needs her secrets.”

  Lilian smiled and winked at the tomboy. “I’m glad you understand.”

  “By the way, where’s your, um, bodyguard?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care. I’m busy.”

  “… Right…”

  ***

  Kotohime watched the woman scan her groceries, her dark gaze sharper than razor blades. The store employee—Susan, her name tag said—looked like she wanted to piss herself, quivering as she was under the swordwoman’s piercing stare.

  Suddenly, Kotohime sneezed.

  “Bless you.”

  “Thank you.” Kotohime wiggled her nose cutely, and then went back to staring.

  ***

  “That was some fall you took,” Alex said, “I can’t believe you biffed it like that. Seriously, that was some funny crap.”

  Lying on the bench, a bottle of melted and no longer cold water pressed against his face, Kevin groaned. “Glad to know I amused you so much.” The sarcasm in his voice was thick enough to stab with a pitchfork.

  Alex dismissed his sarcastic tone. “So, how are you feeling? Everything okay?”

  “Of course he’s not okay, idiot! Just look at him. It looks like someone decided to play Frogger on his face.”

  “Not helping…” Kevin mumbled.

  “Oi! Don’t call me an idiot! I was asking out of concern!”

  “Your concern isn’t needed!”

  “Seriously guys. Not helping.”

  Kevin went ignored as Alex and Andrew broke out into a fight.

  “HA! Serves you right, jerk! This is what you get for stealing both my Tit Maiden and my Gothic Hottie!”

  Kevin twitched. He would have said something, but his face hurt too much, so he just ignored his idiotic best friend. Why were they even friends again? He was having a hard time remembering.

  “… Talking…”

  “I thought stuff like that only happened in anime,” Eric said, somehow managing to understand what Justin had said.

  “… Real…”

  Kevin wished his friends would all just shut up. Couldn’t they see that he had a headache? His face felt like roadkill, and he felt emasculated for reasons he couldn’t understand. He wanted them to stop talking.

  Fortunately for Kevin’s eroding patience, Coach Deretaine blew his whistle and then began yelling. “Hey! You four! Stop dicking around! If you’ve got time to fuck off, then you’ve got time to run drills! Now get over here!”

  Kevin couldn’t contain his sigh of relief. Finally. Peace and quiet.

  “You look like shit.”

  Or not.

  Kevin cracked his one good eye open to see a figure standing over him. Even though her face was cast in shadow, he recognized her instantly.

  “Christine. Is there something you wanted? Or did you come all the way over here just to tell me about how awful I look?”

  Christine crossed her arms. Kevin imagined she was scowling. “Is that what you say to the person who’s going to help your face feel better? If that’s how you’re going to be, then maybe I shouldn’t have come over here at all.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kevin groaned. “I’m not in the best of moods, and my face really hurts.” He looked at her again. “How can you help me, though? Unless…”

  “That’s right.”

  Christine looked around for a second, as if checking to make sure the coast was clear, and then knelt by Kevin’s side. She took the bottle off his face, eliciting a hiss from him as the air stung his raw skin.

  “Hold still,” she said, placing her hands over his injury. The moment she did, a soothing cold swept across his face. Kevin sighed in relief.

  “Thank you.”

  “Hmph! Y-you should be thankful. It’s not often that I consciously use my powers, and I’ve used them for you three times now.”

  “I know, and I’m very―wait.” If his eyes weren’t covered by Christine’s hands, he would have blinked. “Three times? I only remember two.”

  Christine squeaked. “D-did I say three times? I meant two!”

  “No, I’m pretty sure you said three.”

  “I said two! TWO, DAMN IT!”

  “Ow, ow, ow! You’re grinding my eyes into dust!”

  “Meep! S-sorry!”

  Christine stopped grinding her palms into Kevin’s eyes, and the soothing chill returned. Kevin sighed in relief.

  I should really learn to keep my mouth shut.

  When Christine removed her hands, Kevin looked up to see the girl scrunching her face in a mask of concentration. It looked awfully cute from up close. Yet for whatever reason, his heart didn’t skyrocket like it did when he was around Lilian.

  Christine finished seconds later, and Kevin felt much better, which wasn’t to say he actually felt good, just that couldn’t feel anything on the left side of his face. It was completely numb. That was still better than pain, however, and for that he was grateful.

  He sat up, moving over so Christine could sit on the bench.

  “Gods, I hate the cold,” Christine mumbled, shivering as she rubbed her hands to help circulate her blood.

  “You know, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now, but why do you hate the cold so much?”

  Christine remained silent. Kevin thought she would refuse to speak, but the girl only appeared to be gathering her thoughts.

  “What do you know about yuki-onna?”

  “Not much.” Kevin scratched his chin. He couldn’t even feel it. Huh. “I know that you control the cold. You can create snow and have powers over ice, but nothing else.”

  “That’s more than most.”

  “I read a lot of manga.”

  Christine stared at Kevin very oddly.

  “I’m not even going to ask.” She shook her head, as if amazed by the stupidity of his statement. “The first thing you should know about yuki-onna is that there are no men. Our race is composed entirely of women. In fact, it’s considered a rite of passage for young yuki-onna to go out into the human world and bring back a man to… to… to…”

  Christine’s face took on a darkly vibrant shade of blue.

  Steam also began pouring out of her ears.

  “I think I get what you’re saying,” Kevin said. He, too, was blushing. “Is that what you’re doing here? Trying to… find a man?”

  “D-d-d-d-don’t be stupid!” Christine’s fist launched out and punched Kevin in the face, sending him sprawling off the bench. “T-t-t-that-s not―there’s no way I would be here for som
ething like that!”

  “Okay, okay, I got it.” Kevin winced as he sat back down and rubbed his jaw. Thankfully, his face was still numb, so he hadn’t felt the hit. Just the fall. “Now I know how Eric feels.”

  “Oh, shut up.” Christine glared. “I didn’t hit you that hard.”

  “The bruise on my face says otherwise.”

  “W-whatever!” Christine looked away. “Anyway, the reason I’m here isn’t for, well, it’s not for that, so get any perverted thoughts you have of me out of your mind right now.”

  Kevin almost said, “I don’t have any perverted thoughts about you,” but had the inkling that wouldn’t go over very well. “Then what are you doing in Arizona?”

  Christine perked up at the change of subject. “I’m here because of my heritage and the circumstances of my birth. There is a law among yuki-onna that we must all abide by. Yuki-onna are only allowed to mate with humans. Yuki-onna do this because any child born from the union between a human and a yuki-onna will always be one hundred percent yuki-onna.”

  Kevin listened silently, wondering if there might be some kind of scientific reason to explain why children born from humans and yuki-onna were always yuki-onna. Maybe they had really powerful DNA.

  On a side note, Kevin had never heard anyone say “yuki-onna” so many times in a single statement.

  “I wasn’t born from a human and a yuki-onna,” Christine continued. “In fact, my mother committed what is considered a taboo amongst our kind. She mated with a bakeneko.”

  “That’s a type of nekomata, right? A cat yōkai.”

  Bakeneko were one of three types of cat yōkai, along with nekomata and kasha. Kevin didn’t know much about bakeneko, as they weren’t as prominently featured in anime and manga as nekomata were. He guessed it was because they only had one tail.

  “That’s right. The literal translation of their name means Fire Cart, which is odd, because they have nothing to do with carts or any other form of transportation. Regardless, bakeneko, while not as powerful as nekomata or kasha, still have a strong affinity for fire.

  “Mating with any type of yōkai is considered taboo among our kind. Mating with a yōkai that has powers over fire is grounds for banishment. Because of this, the clan my mom belonged to banished her.”