Yamata no Orochi’s enraged shrieks split the early morning air.
A week had passed since the battle for Neo Seiryuu had ended. After the battle, the civilians had returned to their homes, their lives resuming as if nothing had ever happened. It was a little sad how inured to violence people had become, but Lilian understood that people, human and yokai, could become used to anything. Beloved called it desensitization.
Justin had healed up and moved out of their apartment and into his own, which honestly didn’t change much when it came to their sleeping arrangements. Since Christine was still living with them, they had all decided to continue sleeping in the living room. Even Kevin had moved to the living room after much cajoling from her and Iris.
Thinking of Christine made Lilian wonder if she’d done the right thing in allowing the yuki-onna to stay with them. She loved Christine. She really did, but her sex life was suffering because of that girl. It was like the snow maiden had a sex-a-dar or something. The girl always seemed to know when she, Kevin, and Iris were going to get frisky in the sheets and put a stop to it.
It was now January 2. School was starting up again, and though other people might have groaned at the thought, Lilian was looking forward to it. She might not love school, but she still loved what it represented. Normalcy, which was something that she felt she needed, especially since Kevin had become very abnormal since the battle for Neo Seiryuu.
“Um, Beloved, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“What are you talking about? This is my idea.”
“I know. That’s why I said it.”
“Ouch. Harsh much?”
“You know that everything I say is out of love. I’m telling you this is a terrible idea because I love you.”
Kevin and Lilian were standing in an empty field. The grass felt cool underneath her bare feet, and she could feel the blades moving between her feet as she clenched her toes. About five yards away, Kevin stood with his arms held loosely at his side. He was also blindfolded.
“Why do you think this is such a terrible idea?” he asked.
Lilian giggled. “You know I’m just having fun with you. Still, I’m not sure if having me launch light spheres at you while you’re blindfolded is the best idea you’ve ever had.”
“What are you talking about? This is just like the training that’s done in Blood Lad when Staz and Wolfboy are getting ready to fight against Akim.”
“That’s not exactly true. They only dealt with fists. My light sphere is going to hurt a lot more, and it’s going to come in faster than most punches.”
“I know. That’s why I asked you to do this. I’m upping the ante. You know as well as I do that a protagonist comes into their true power only after they have suffered from either a life-threatening battle or training from hell. Now, could you please begin?”
“All right. But, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Lilian decided to start things off easy. She created a single sphere and lobbed it at Kevin, who’s ears pricked as it buzzed toward him. He sidestepped it as it came at him. He was frowning.
“Lilian… you’re going easy on me, aren’t you?”
“Ah, um, sorry! I just don’t like the idea of hurting you.”
“I know you don’t, but please, for me, don’t hold back.”
Sighing, Lilian realized that there really was no stopping Kevin when he got like this. “Okay, Beloved. I’ll stop going easy on you.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m gonna give this everything I’ve got!”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’m gonna shoot my load all over you!”
“… That sounded really wrong somehow.”
“Here I come!”
Lilian created six light spheres, which hovered around her before she launched them at Kevin.
“Celestial Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”
Two orbs came in from the front, two from the back, and one from each side. Kevin was boxed in. Zwhoom! The light spheres moved quicker than last time. Kevin barely had a second to realize what was happening before the spheres slammed into him like an entire pantheon of angry gods.
“GYYAAA!”
“BELOVED!!”
Lilian learned an important lesson that day. Just because her mate wanted her to do something, it didn’t mean that she should always go along with it.
A meeting of Neo Seiryuu’s elite members had been called. These meetings had been happening with a lot more frequency, which was due to the perilous situation they still found themselves in.
“It’s been one week and we still haven’t heard anything from Davin or the other Four Saints,” one of the men said. “Reports came in a little while ago that a mountain range in California was obliterated as well. Not to mention that our barrier is still down, and without the Four Saints to power it, it will remain down. Our situation is dire.”
“That may be so, but we haven’t heard anything from the Yamata Alliance since driving off their forces the other week.”
“What of the Sons and Daughters of Humanity? Have we heard anything about them?”
“They’ve been suspiciously quiet for a while now. We believe the reason for that is due to the information that was stolen from them,” Mack said. “They’re likely being cautious because they don’t know what we know.”
As the de facto head of Neo Seiryuu until Davin returned, Mack had been the one who’d called for this meeting. He was currently in charge. Sitting on his right, her eyes closed, Kotohime remained placid as she listened to the conversation.
“Speaking of, how far along are we in sifting through all of that information?” asked their head of commerce, a woman named Shinoa Flavora. She was a human with a keen mind. Kotohime had learned that this woman used to own the grocery store chain that she and Kevin shopped at.
“We’re only about halfway finished with sorting through all of the information,” Mack admitted. “There is a lot more than I thought there’d be. Some of the info dates back to thirty years ago.”
A heavy sigh escaped Shinoa’s mouth. “Thirty years? I hadn’t realized these terrorists have been around for that long.”
“We have evidence to suggest that they’ve been around for at least a hundred years,” Dr. Henry Von Stein said. As one of the people in charge of sorting through all of the information, he knew more about what it contained than anyone else.
“What makes you believe that?” asked Kiara.
“There have been multiple allusions to past campaigns waged against yokai, though they’ve only been referenced. It is my belief that the Sons and Daughters of Humanity may have been around since America’s founding, and perhaps even before then.”
Muttered whisperings broke out. Kotohime’s ears twitched as she listened to the separate conversations happening around her. Many of the people present sounded skeptical, but she knew better than to dismiss this information out of hand.
“At the present time, we have yet to discover anything that can be used against the Sons and Daughters of Humanity in our campaign against them. However, we’re hopeful that the information provided by Justin Verrator will give us an edge in the ongoing struggle.”
“Speaking of that boy,” one of the yokai in charge of security began, “are you sure it was a wise idea to let him live so close to Kevin Swift and his companions?”
Everyone present knew about Kevin. He was the only teenager to have fought against Yokai Killers and yokai alike and come out on top. Everyone knew that Davin favored and thought highly of him, and that he’d gone on numerous missions. Some people respected him, others thought a child should have never been put in such a position to begin with, and at least a few people hated him. They felt that a mere boy of sixteen should not have been allowed to take part in missions of such importance.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Mack said, smiling. “If anything, having someone like Kevin and Lilian around to keep watch over Justin can only be a good thing.”
Christin
e woke up to what sounded suspiciously like yowling in pain. When a familiar voice screamed “BELOVED!” at the top of her lungs, Christine knew that she wouldn’t be going back to sleep.
What are those two idiots doing now?
“Maybe they’re training?”
Probably. Those two are nuts for that stupid anime training crap.
“Nyou should join them.”
I’ll pass.
As she sat up in her sleeping bag and stretched her arms, Christine took several sniffs of the air. She frowned.
Do you smell that?
“I do. I wonder what that delicious scent is… nya… it is mouthwatering…”
You mean disgusting, right?
“Nya…”
Seconds later, Iris walked into the room from the kitchen. She was carrying a large backpack.
“What are you doing with that backpack?” asked Christine.
Christine knew that Iris never brought a backpack to school. Not only was she the type who did as little work as possible, but the idea of carrying a clunky object like that was anathema to her. In the vixen’s own words, wearing a backpack ruined her sex appeal.
Pausing, Iris looked down at her and grinned. “Oh, this? I just have a few things that I need to carry today. You know, because it’s the first day of school.”
Christine studied the girl for several seconds more. The scent became stronger as Iris walked further into the room. For some reason, the smell was clouding her mind.
“W… whatever.” Christine struggled to regain her mental faculties. “I’m going to take a bath.”
“I’ll meet with you in a few minutes and wash your back,” Iris said.
“Okay, nya,” Christine said, standing up and heading into the closet. She needed to get a towel, shampoo, and some soap.
Nine
Magical Girl Versus Magical Not-Girl
Despite having lived in Neo Seiryuu for at least a week now, Justin still couldn’t get used to some of the way they did things.
Bathing was one of the things that he couldn’t get used to. The baths were communal. Each apartment complex had its own bathhouse, which meant there were a combination of humans and yokai bathing there every day.
The bathhouses were large buildings that sat in the center of a complex. They were built similarly to a Chinese mansion, albeit, far smaller than any palace in China. Justin had been told that it was due to the aesthetic appeal of the architecture, but he wasn’t so sure about that.
All around him, a combination of humans and yokai walked across the tiled floor, some heading for the showers and others traveling into the baths. In some ways, this place reminded him of a hot spring. There were only a few differences.
As he stood under one of the showerheads, rinsing himself off, two familiar faces walked in.
“I’m telling you, that’s not how it is at all! Don’t misunderstanding the situation!”
“Even if you say that, how can I think anything else when I saw you and Julius sharing what looked like a very passionate—”
“Don’t say it!”
“—embrace.”
While Eric’s face took on an expression of horror, Julius blushed. “Did we really look like a couple sharing a special moment together? Oh, I’m so embarrassed!”
“Don’t try to act cute, damn it! This is a serious problem here!” Eric snapped.
“The only person with the problem is you, Eric. I already told you that I won’t judge,” Kevin said with a teasing grin.
“I told you that’s not what happened!”
Kevin and Eric had entered the bathhouse. Like everyone else, they wore nothing but towels. Julius, the little yokai boy, was also with them.
Justin didn’t know what to think of the blond yokai, not because the boy was clearly a trap, but because he couldn’t figure out what type of yokai the boy was. Still, he had the feeling that Julius was not everything that he appeared to be.
“Oh, Justin!” Kevin greeted. “Morning!”
“Morning,” Justin said. Even though Kevin had accepted him, he still felt a little awkward around his friend.
“Hey! Are you listening to me?!” Eric shouted.
“So, how do you feel about going back to school after being absent for so long?” Kevin asked.
Trying his best to remain nonchalant, Justin shrugged. “I’ve been trying not to think about how I feel, but I imagine it’s going to be awkward to be back in school after being absent for over a year.”
“You should just consider yourself lucky that you passed the entrance exam they gave you. Otherwise you’d be stuck in your sophomore year instead of being a junior.”
“I guess.”
“You guys are totally ignoring me, aren’t you? Well, fine! Who needs you two anyway!”
“D-don’t worry, Master,” Julius said. “If it would please you, then this lowly slave will be more than happy to let you take your frustrations out on his—”
“That’s enough out of you!”
It was still early in the morning, but Justin could already tell that it was going to be an interesting day.
Kevin had a problem. Lilian and Iris had the same problem. It wasn’t anything big. Certainly, this problem would’ve been considered miniscule when compared to some of the issues they’d faced. At the same time, it was, indeed, an issue they didn’t know how to deal with.
“Do you mean to tell me that you still haven’t completed the assignments I gave you despite having nearly three weeks to complete them?” asked their teacher, a young woman with pale skin, dark eyes, and a Hannya mask hanging on the side of her head. She was a hannya, a type of oni who used dark magic and rituals to perform evil deeds—or so the stories went.
Right now, to Kevin, this woman represented evil.
“It’s not that we didn’t do them,” Kevin hedged. “We did, but, well…”
“Our homework was destroyed during our last mission,” Lilian finished.
“Destroyed?” the teacher asked.
“Yes. It got blown to smithereens along with our car,” Lilian said, nodding effusively. Kevin nodded along with her.
“I see.” A pause. “In that case, why didn’t you come to me and ask for a duplicate after you came back home?”
“Uh…” neither Kevin nor Lilian knew what to say to that.
Fortunately, Iris did. “We were busy having sex.” Unfortunately, Iris liked shoving her foot in her mouth.
The woman’s gaze turned frosty. Kevin would’ve assumed she was a yuki-onna due to how cold her eyes were.
“I do not care what you children do in your free time,” she informed them in a voice that could’ve frozen hell. “However, while you are in this class, you three are bound by my rules, and I would appreciate it if you did not speak like that.”
“We understand,” Kevin said.
“To teach you this lesson, all three of you have detention with me after class.”
“What?!” they shouted at the same time.
“Do you have a problem with serving detention?” She glared at them.
The three of them were cowed underneath this woman’s icy stare. Well, he and Lilian were. Iris looked like she was trying to subtly weave an enchantment on her.
They shook their head.
“Good. Oh, and Iris? You’ll be getting extra homework for trying to cast an enchantment on me.”
Iris’s despairing wail split the air.
Perhaps it was the result of having not been to school for so long, but classes moved by terribly slowly.
As a junior, Kevin was taking all AP and several college courses. That had been a huge mistake on his part. While he generally did well in school, with how busy he’d been going on missions and fighting against various villains, he’d been overwhelmed with homework. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that his homework had been destroyed during their mission to find Kuroneko and Orin.
Lilian and Iris were in homeroom with him, but they didn’t always share the same cla
sses. Iris wasn’t interested in academics and had chosen to take the easiest courses possible. Meanwhile, Lilian’s focus was more art oriented, thus all of her classes except the core classes, which she did share with Kevin, were different.
Kevin honestly didn’t know why he’d chosen AP and college courses. He supposed it was because some part of him was planning for the future. However, with everything that had been happening, the idea of going to college seemed so far away.
When the first half of classes ended, Kevin met up with everyone else for lunch. Their group had expanded since the last time he’d seen it. Aside from himself, Lilian, Iris, Christine, and the usual group, Euryale, Thoe, Menippe, and several other yama uba that he knew by face but not name were also there. Several of the girls appeared to be comforting a depressed Thoe.
“Something wrong with Thoe?” he asked Alex and Andrew as he sat down next to Lilian, who kissed him on the cheek as she scooted her bento box between them. They’d decided to share their meals since Kotohime’s bento boxes were always too large for one person to eat.
“Yeah,” Alex said. “She was apparently taking care of some little girl who disappeared sometime during the night. It’s got her really down.”
“Then shouldn’t you be comforting her?” Lilian asked. “You two are dating, right?”
Alex and Thoe had started dating a few days ago, supposedly. Kevin had yet to see any evidence of this yet, but that’s what they said, and he did remember that these two had left his apartment together after the Christmas party. Thoe had even confirmed it.
“She doesn’t need me for comfort. Look at all the girls surrounding her,” Alex said with a head shake.
His words were met by two stern glares.
“What kind of boyfriend are you?” Lilian asked.
“Even if there are people already comforting her, a good boyfriend would do his best to make his girl feel better,” Kevin added before Alex could respond.
Lilian nodded. “Hm-hm. We girls may not look it, but when we’re depressed, we usually want to be comforted by our mates, not our girlfriends.”
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