Chapter 142 – Subus & Yokai
<span style="font-weight:400">Tamamo no Mae let us down and patted us on the head. A wicked smile, one that was filled with so much malice that shook me to my core, shed across her face. I hadn''t seen a look like that since Beatrice, but even she didn''tpare to this… terror.
<span style="font-weight:400">The nine-tailed fox yokai stood a towering eight feet at the tip of her ears. A powerful aura, much like my own, sted me like I''d just open the door of a preheated oven. She threw both arms out to her sides, then breathed in so deeply that it sucked the oxygen right from my lungs.
<span style="font-weight:400">It wasn''t until she walked past us was I able to breathe again. However…
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hey! Fox-face, where the hell is Uta?" Mio shouted to her back.
<span style="font-weight:400">When Tamamo nced over her shoulder to us, an invisible force brought us both to our knees.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Uta? I haven''t the faintest idea. All I did was draw from your memories who you wanted to hear from the most. Thank you for that, by the way. For freeing me, I shall forgive your ill-mannered tone. Do <i><span style="font-weight:400">not</i><span style="font-weight:400"> speak to me that way again," Tamamo warned before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
<span style="font-weight:400">The sunny skies of Takamagahara seemed to be a shade dimmer. Instead of just the bright blue horizon, there was now an enormous moon and night slowly vying for territory.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What… have you done?"
<span style="font-weight:400">We traded a scary yokai for an angry goddess.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mio and I were able to move again, but we were met with an army of tengu and Amaterasu. The goddess faced the open shrine and shredded rope, her fists clenched, eyes twitching, and shaking all over in anger.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Arrest them!" Amaterasu ordered the tengu, who quickly moved in to force us to the ground with mancatcher rods.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Wait, Raijin told us this was Uta''s shrine! He''s the one that lied to us! H-He even gave us this charm!" I raised my right wrist which the charm was tied on like a bracelet and Mio did the same.
<span style="font-weight:400">Amaterasu grabbed my arm to inspect it, then ripped it from my wrist to burn it into ashes.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Not only did you release an unspeakable cmity back to Earth, but you also seek to frame my own brother with some petty, mortal-made charm?" Amaterasu wreathed herself in an intense fire that even the tengu backed away.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Fake…? Wait— Did you say Earth?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Tamamo no Mae is a yokai more dangerous than the worst of your kind, subus. She brings misfortune with every step and disaster from a mere breath. Because of your misguided actions, both Takamagahara and Japan may fall to ruin." She waved a hand to shut the shrine doors and rose into the sky.
<span style="font-weight:400">Amaterasu''s eyes were fixed at the approaching night, and the strain on her face was apparent. While I expected her to be more furious at us— and she certainly was— it felt as though her concerns were elsewhere and more distant.
<span style="font-weight:400">Did it have something to do with night? An itching sensation at the back of my mind was telling me I should know. It was at the tip of my tongue, but I''m at a loss.
<span style="font-weight:400">That wasn''t important right now. Everyone back home was in danger.
<span style="font-weight:400">If mine and Mio''s powers didn''t work on Tamamo no Mae, then the other subi wouldn''t be able to face her either. This was shaping up to be a huge mess, and Amaterasu didn''t believe us one bit. That Raijin… did he really trick us this entire time?
<span style="font-weight:400">What the hell did he have to gain for Tamamo being released?
<span style="font-weight:400">"I-I didn''t know Tamamo no Mae was inside. I swear it was Uta''s voice I heard! If… If there''s anything I can do to help make this right, please tell me!" I pleaded to her.
<span style="font-weight:400">"There is nothing you can do." Amaterasu scoffed. "I should throw both of you into prison for an eternity for what you have done. However, I believe a more fitting punishment awaits in your soon-to-be ruined world."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Wait just a damn second! Whatever that seal you had on this ce got the stank of demon magic on it, and I wanna know why!" Mio demanded.
<span style="font-weight:400">"How should I know? It was your kind that tampered with it," she said.
<span style="font-weight:400">One of the tengu threw a paper talisman to the ground next to faces. From it, two lines of light fired out from the sides to envelope us. The next thing we knew, we tumbled into a stonentern in Fukuo Shrine back in Japan.
<span style="font-weight:400">Amaterasu had sent us back.
<span style="font-weight:400">I ran to Kon''s shrine and rapped my knuckles incessantly on the door. "Hey, Kon! Open up!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Go away! I''m not opening this door under any circumstances!" Kon shouted from within.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Come on, foxy-boy. I''ll give you one of those footjobs you love so much," Mio offered.
<span style="font-weight:400">A pause of silence either meant he was seriously considering it or decided to outright ignore us.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Tempting… but I rather not risk it. I already heard what happened because of Takamagahara sounding the rm. Tamamo no Mae is out there in your world, which means I''m safer here," he said.
<span style="font-weight:400">Both of us tried to get him toe out or at least talk to us some more, but all we got in return was silence after that. All I wanted to do was give Uta his freedom, but now…
<span style="font-weight:400">A cold droplet of rain fell onto my cheek, followed by a shower that was quickly worsening into a storm. The kimonos that Yuzuki gave us were getting soaked. Since Kon wasn''t going to be of any help, we headed straight home.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh, what happened to you two? And why are you dressed in kimonos at a time like this?" Hatsumi asked as we came in.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ah… Kaede wanted us to model some of her kimonos, then it started raining so we rushed home!" I hastily exined.
<span style="font-weight:400">Of course, it was a lie. I wasn''t going to tell Hatsumi that I let loose a dangerous yokai into the world.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Well, it''s a good thing you two came back early. The news just broadcasted a severe weather alert. I hope it passes soon." She sighed at the darkening skies before shutting the door.
<span style="font-weight:400">Later that night, I had a hard time falling asleep. Sex was usually on my mind, but not tonight. That was how bad it was. I thought about going over to Kana''s, hoping he could take my mind off things until Mio entered my room. She was dressed in a long t-shirt that went down to her knees. Nothing about the look in her eyes told me she was here for the usual.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Couldn''t sleep?" I asked the obvious as Mio slipped into my bed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Been getting some bad vibes ever sinceing back, and I don''t like it one bit. I can''t help but feel responsible." Mio pursed her lips.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You shouldn''t… I''m the one who broke the seal."
<span style="font-weight:400">"There''s a good chance Beatrice and the demon lord were behind the tampering." She sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">That was quite the usation, but also the only one that made sense. However, neither of them were in this world anymore. Hopefully, both of them were gone for good. If Mio was sure that they were the cause, then it must have happened some time ago.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What makes you think that?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I told you before that the subi race wasn''t native to Elza, right? They were actually brought in from another world by the demon lord to serve in his army. I''m part of the first generation of Elza-born ss. From what little I understand, the demon lord was able to traverse through worlds. You following what I''m saying?" Mio asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"The demon lord must have stumbled into Earth and Takamagahara when searching for more allies. Then… they were trying to form an alliance with Tamamo?" I wondered aloud.
<span style="font-weight:400">However, neither Beatrice or the demon lord should have known about the powerful yokai. They had to have gotten help from a kami that was helping them, and right now, the only culprit I could think of was that bastard Raijin.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What''d that bitch call herself again? Master of disguises or some shit. If she can dress up and change her voice into anyone, there''s no way we can find her," Mio said.
<span style="font-weight:400">"There''s one way. Her aura," I reminded her. "We have subus spread out over Japan, it shouldn''t be too hard to sense something as powerful as that. The problem is how to fight her, because we couldn''t do anything at the time."
<span style="font-weight:400">"If my shitty sis had anything to do with this, Hana might know more. As the eldest among us, she used to be close with Bea until they had a falling out. We should talk to her tomorrow," she suggested.
<span style="font-weight:400">After having decided our n of action, we tried to go to sleep. Guilt wracked my mind through the night until Mio used magic to put me to sleep.
<span style="font-weight:400">We were getting ready to go to school in the morning when Hatsumi brought out ponchos instead of umbres because of the weather. The rain hadn''t let up. In fact, it got worse through the night. Imagine my surprise when I woke up and thought it was still night.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hmmm… It''s been a while since I wore a rain poncho. It feels weird wearing one in the middle of winter when all I used to need was an umbre," I bemoaned the tacky article of outerwear.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Kahahaha! You look like you''re wearing a trash bag! Holy shit, my stomach… It''s too funny…" Mio cackled so hard she was shaking.
<span style="font-weight:400">I threw a second rain poncho right into Mio''s face to shut her up.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You''re going to lose an umbre, bringing one out there in this storm." I sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">Hatsumi poked her head into the foyer from the living room and said, "Be careful going to school, okay?"
<span style="font-weight:400">We followed her back into the living room after she gestured us in. The news on TV was broadcasting severe flood warnings along the levees and bodies of water. Although Tsukiji was on the coast, we lived far enough in the city not to worry about the tides. The many artificial riverbanks that run along the city helped with that, but too much rainfall might be bad.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Am I putting this on right?" Mio''s question came muffled.
<span style="font-weight:400">Hatsumi and I turned to see that she had worn it backwards, and the hood was covering her face. After my sister helped put it on properly for her, she sent us off with a bento and urged us to be careful another three more times until we left.
<span style="font-weight:400">The rain really wasing down hard. Heavy showers mixing in with the leftover snow created slush along the sidewalk and roads. A pretty dangerousbination when you weren''t sure which areas had a thinyer of ice underneath the water.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just as I think that—
<span style="font-weight:400">"Whoa!"
<span style="font-weight:400">As we walked along the sidewalk, my feet slipped right out from underneath me. Mio caught me just in time, so I didn''t fall onto my ass.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Geez. You think it''s really that Tamamo bitch causing all this?" Mio asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Has to be. The forecast this entire month was sunny and frigid cold, no rain. Then the instant Tamamo escapes and everything changes. I just hope this is the extent of it. If anything worse happens, I—"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Help! Someone fell into the river!"
<span style="font-weight:400">Our attention was drawn to the cries of a group of girls. They were staring at someone who had fallen into the river. The person''s head bobbed up and down, barely on the surface and iling both hands for help.
<span style="font-weight:400">I slid down the grassy bank while letting down my poncho and schoolbag, then dove into the water. The current was strong, but swimming along it with my subus strength easily allowed me to catch up. When I lifted the student up just as she submerged, I was surprised to see who it was.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Kaede?!"
<span style="font-weight:400">Mio was waiting further down by the edge of the bank. I handed Kaede to her first, then climbed up on my own. The budding doujin artist coughed up water as soon as she was back onnd.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What happened? Did you fall into the water?" I asked her.
<span style="font-weight:400">"No…" Kaede shook her head and looked to be on the verge of crying. "I slipped earlier and dropped my bag…"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Damn, girl. You jumped into the water for a schoolbag?" Mio asked, identally setting Kaede off.
<span style="font-weight:400">"The entire volume 3 of my manga manuscript was in there!" she cried, the pain in her voice startled me and Mio into silence. "I… I was bringing it to school to get it printed in theputer room, but now…"
<span style="font-weight:400">The misfortunes were beginning. No, chances were it had been going on sincest night, and I was only now seeing it happen to the people I knew.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Mio, make sure Kaede gets to school safely. I''ll catch up." I threw my poncho over her and started following the river''s current.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Wait, you''re not seriously going to— Everything will be all wet and smudged up anyway. It''s okay! I''ll start over. You don''t have to risk yourself in the water!" Kaede shouted to my back.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Don''t worry, I''m a pretty good swimmer. And after reading the first two volumes you gave us, I''m dying to know what happens next." I smiled, then took off running before she could plead for me to stop.
<span style="font-weight:400">When no one was watching, I casted invisibility on myself so that I could fly and catch up to find Kaede''s bag. It had gone pretty far, but I managed to find it partially submerged against a drain gate. Everything inside was soaked. The manuscript was actually an entire drawing book, and the pages had be wet enough to stick together. Much of the drawings were smudged like Kaede said. It wasn''t salvageable, but she could at least use it as a frame of reference once it dries.
<span style="font-weight:400">I arrived at schoolte and sopping wet.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Ah-choo! Guh… I better not catch a cold…"
<span style="font-weight:400">Thankfully, no one was around. I used magic to wick away most of the water, then dried myself with magical heat. As I headed upstairs to the floor of my ss, my stomach growled in protest of having not sexually feasted in a while.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hey, you should be in ss!" A male teacher called out to me from down the hall.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Perfect timing," I said.
<span style="font-weight:400">I charmed the teacher into having sex with me in a bathroom stall. While he pounded into me doggystyle, I checked my phone to get a better grasp of what''s going on on social media. A lot of people wereining about having a shittier day than usual.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Whew. I needed that," he said after cumming inside me. "After burning my shirt with an iron and spilling coffee on myptop, I thought things would get worse. Getting to have sex with a student just made my day!"
<span style="font-weight:400">"d I could be of service~" I pulled my skirt up.
<span style="font-weight:400">When I got to ss, my homeroom teacher let me off the hook with a warning for beingte. Kaede was thankful to have her bag back and apologized profusely that I went out of the way to help her. If it wasn''t for the misfortune going around, that wouldn''t have happened to her. It was only right that I took responsibility for it.
<span style="font-weight:400">At the start of lunch, Mio and I were getting up to meet with Hana in the infirmary when we found Kana hanging by the hallway, holding his phone.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What''s got you down in the dumps?" Mio asked as we walked up to him.
<span style="font-weight:400">"My tutor just got into a car ident. Had to cancel all our sessions this month. Talk about crappy timing since I needed his help with entrance exams." Kana sighed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh, right. We have those… Can''t you find a new tutor?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I can, but he''s got a good track record of students getting high grades. I''ll just have to find a new tutor and ramp up my studies. Anyway, where are you two headed?" He put his phone away and, after taking a good look at both of us, already suspected something was up.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mio and I traded nces, unsure if now was the best time to tell Kana. Sensing our hesitation, he left it at that and urged us to get going to do what we needed to do.
<span style="font-weight:400">"We''ll tell youter… Just watch your feet when you walk home," I cautioned, but Kana snatched my hand as I was about to leave.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Same for you two. Somehow, you''re always getting into trouble. Try not to shoulder too much, alright? If you need help, you can alwayse to me." He smiled.
<span style="font-weight:400">I looked up and down the hallway to make sure we were the only ones around, then gave Kana a kiss. His words always put me at ease. It''s been this way since we met way back when.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Me, too! Me, too!" Mio shoved me against the window for a smooch.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Guys, please… save that for after school or someone will see!" Kana warned, shooing us off.
<span style="font-weight:400">Hana was waiting in the infirmary with Yumi and Shayle when we arrived. We gave them the short of what transpired in Takamagahara, and a shadow fell across their expressions.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You two are right to believe Beatrice and the demon lord had something to do with it," Yumi said, her eyes wide open after hearing the story.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What do you guys know about the demonsing to Japan during your war?" I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"We were losing," Shayle began. "Dark elves and subi, the demon forces… our mightbined couldn''t defeat the allied might of the Everlight''s armies, especially not with so many beastkins constantlyunching sneak attacks on us. The demon lord grew reclusive towards theter stages of the war. Now we know why."
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hana? You and Bea used to strategize a lot. Anything you wanna add?" Mio brought Hana into the conversation since she had been listening quietly this entire time.
<span style="font-weight:400">It wasn''t like the pink-haired helion to be silent or brooding. Maybe it lent to how serious the situation was.
<span style="font-weight:400">"It''s true. Beatrice and our big bad boss were desperate for allies when they failed to convince the beastkin''s chieftain to join us. The truth is, the idea to go to Earth… was my suggestion," Hana confessed, hanging her head in shame.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You?" I gasped.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Well, shit. That exins how you were familiar with Earth from the start," Mio said.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Yeah… I''d already been here a few times and knew about super duper strong monsters your people call yokai. When I brought it up to Bea, she thought it was a great idea. We hatched a n, snuck into Takamagahara, and tried to bargain with Tamamo," she exined further.
<span style="font-weight:400">"But what happened?" Shayle asked. "Why didn''t you bring back allies to help us win the war?"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Beatrice got scared. We learned real quick that the thing we were about to release was batshit evil and decided not to go through with it," Hana said.
<span style="font-weight:400">Batshit evil? Bad enough that Beatrice and the demon lord wanted nothing to do with her?
<span style="font-weight:400">"One more question: did a kami named Raijin help you guys get into Takamagahara?" I looked Hana in the eyes and received a confused stare.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hmm… Definitely not a god. Think he was another yokai. His name was Mu… Mu…"
<span style="font-weight:400">"Mutoh?" Mio and I uttered at once.
<span style="font-weight:400">"That''s the one!" Hana eximed.
<span style="font-weight:400">We had more questions than answers now. Was Raijin in on it? Was he not? No way would the priest go against his own kami… would he?
<span style="font-weight:400">"Saeko, if there''s anything I can do to make up for this, please let me help!" she insisted.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Thanks, Hana. Unfortunately, there''s not a lot we can do. For now, we need to mobilize every subus to be on the search for Tamamo. Finding and subjugating her should be at the top of our priority," I said.
<span style="font-weight:400">Yumi, Hana, and Shayle brought Selene in and would start making calls to subi living in other cities to be on the lookout.
<span style="font-weight:400">Misfortune was a spectrum. Inconveniences were the least dangerous, but someone with the worst luck could find themselves getting hurt or worse. If Mio and I hadn''te across Kaede when we did, she might have drowned. We had to nip Tamamo in the bud before things got worse.
<span style="font-weight:400">However, after searching for half the day once school was over and getting nowhere, all I was doing was tiring myself out.
<span style="font-weight:400">"We ain''t getting anywhere like this. Best we turn in and start again tomorrow," Mio said.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Just one more time around the city. Tamamo''s got to be here somewhere." I squinted across the skyline, wondering where she was.
<span style="font-weight:400">As I was about to fly off, Mio grabbed me by the arm.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Even if we do find her, it won''t do us any good being so exhausted. C''mon, we''ll spend the night at Kana''s and fill up. Let the others keep searching," she implored.
<span style="font-weight:400">It didn''t seem fair that I should ck while the other subi were still looking. Regardless, Mio was right. My sexual energy was running dry. Even if we discovered Tamamo, we wouldn''t be able to fight her.
<span style="font-weight:400">I dropped Kana a text that we wereing over, but he didn''t respond. Mio chalked it up to him being in the bathroom or too deep in studying, which ording to her, was all the more reason we drop by to spice his night up. As we flew through the storm to get to his house, eager for a night-long threesome, the lights in the neighborhoods below began to flicker. A ck out hit the city, knocking off the lights in homes and on the streets. Cars screeched to a halt at traffic stops, people in their homes groaned at their luck, and night owls threw their hands in the air because the streemps had gone out.
<span style="font-weight:400">Kana''s house was no exception and was pitch dark just like every other house in the area. We flew up to the second floor window of his room and knocked.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Kana?" I quietly called.
<span style="font-weight:400">There was no answer.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Hey, the door isn''t locked!" Mio said from below.
<span style="font-weight:400">Weird. Kana wouldn''t leave the front door unlocked like this.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Oh, I didn''t expect to meet you two again so soon," my own voice said from inside the house.
<span style="font-weight:400">I threw open the door. Sitting on the couch inside and drinking from a cup that smelled of coffee was… me, in my human form.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What the…" Mio flicked her gaze between the two of us. "I mean, I''m down to have a threesome with two Saekos, but something ain''t right here."
<span style="font-weight:400">"That''s not me! It''s Tamamo disguised as me!" I eximed.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Haha! Good catch. When I searched your memories, I found that you were fond of this boy in particr. He was <i><span style="font-weight:400">very</i><span style="font-weight:400"> sweet and amodating." Tamamo smirked, transforming back into her humanoid kitsune form.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Paws off our cum hydrant!" Mio growled.
<span style="font-weight:400">"What did you do to Kana?" I returned to my subus form to face her.
<span style="font-weight:400">"I needed a willing body," the yokai began. "The boy, how selfless and endearing, was willing to do whatever I— Sorry, not me. Whatever <i><span style="font-weight:400">you</i><span style="font-weight:400"> wanted. So I fibbed a little white lie, pleading with him for help that only he could offer."
<span style="font-weight:400">A figure emerged from the darkness behind the couch was another figure. He had Kana''s face and height, but a much deeper and hoarse voice that didn''t belong to him. Two sharp horns protruded from his forehead like the oni from Takamagahara.
<span style="font-weight:400">"Kana…?" my voice cracked, saying his name.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You will be disappointed to learn that Kana isn''t here right now, at least not entirely. For the time being, I shall possess this body. It is quite sprigh and young, unlike my old one. You havee to make love with this boy, yes? How about allowing me, Shuten Doji, to partake in his ce instead?" The possessed body of my childhood friend snickered.