Warning: Mention of underage drinking and sexual innuendo.
This chapter is dedicated to Mikata. Her name was meant to be a placeholder, chose Mikata because it meant ally, but it stuck. This one peeks into her head and she's definitely a hopeless romantic. The gratuitous and cheesy use of shoujo manga tropes was on purpose. Tatta Hitotsu no Renai (Just One True Love) is a made-up manga that Mikata is obsessed with.
Tsubaki rolled her ankle to spend nervous energy before opening her review from Ubata and Tamuro. The four-page, single-spaced critique was almost as long as the draft she had submitted a week prior.
"It is clear from the abstract that the writer is approaching a very complex subject, but that does not mean the writing style itself should be so convoluted…the author failed to acknowledge Gifford's meta-analysis on the section of mental tendencies…completely disregarded the potential differences in the controlled study… and therefore, compromises the entire conclusion…you suck, you suck, you suck, you suck."
OK. No one actually wrote that last bit, but the review was a few red scribbles away from breaking into repetitions of 'you suck'.
She skimmed it to lessen the initial blow and planned to study it in the safety of her room. Once her ego was slain, she'd get back to revising. Any praise on her published work was due to the brutal feedback that sanded and polished her work until it was shiny and fit for publishing. Knowing that still didn't ease the hollow pain of seeing her work vandalized with red ink.
Her elbow throbbed when she stretched without thinking.
Which hurts more? The criticism or my arm? Mundanity or the escape from human life that I wished for?
Kurama's plant wiggled in her elbow and the burn lessened.
The four. Even in her head, they wouldn't leave her alone. Hiei, who didn't take advantage of a vulnerable moment. Kurama, who put a death plant in her arm, but at least the plant was earning its keep by consuming the dark energy in her elbow. Urameshi and Kuwabara who helped her recuperate after the Ice Illusion. Urameshi had even tried to heal her arm.
All of them had a 'something,' a sense of honor. She thought of Gunah and herself and scoffed. They really don't grasp who they're up against. We know honor gets you killed.
She ate a rice ball (every time she ate the prior day, something bad happened) at her favorite spot near the flower bushes in bloom in Aojo Common. Rice and tuna tumbled onto her skirt and into the grass under her chair. At that moment, the random grains of white rice adhered to her seaweed resembled teeth, like the hungry plants in Kurama's kitchen.
She ought to dedicate all of her time to squashing Gunah, avoiding Spirit World and their four, but the more the situation developed the more she procrastinated. After leaving Kuwabara's apartment, she went home and ate a rare dinner with her mother before staying up late to finish homework. If she were really serious, she'd forgo human life and focus on her plan. No, not because Güzel's words urging her to do that struck a chord. I don't even want to think about Temiz.
Red fluttered in the corner of her eye.
A rose hanging near her head puckered. The only flower to do so among several in the windless air. Even as an Illusion, she stared at the winking flower to make sure her lack of sleep wasn't causing hallucinations. Never so intrigued by a flower before, with hesitation, she peeked inside. On the flowerbed, hugged by the petals, sat something round, like a marble.
She poked a finger inside. The flower obliged and dropped a paper ball into her palm.
She unraveled it, but then looked over her shoulder. She read the area, but her faint powers could only render a fuzzy image. Her classmates and some students from other local high schools, but no fox demon.
This rose is practically glowing with good Goz. A note in a winking flower. How in the world did he manage this?
Show off.
She rolled her eyes and read.
'I have a few more questions.'
"Main Street Square, 7 o'clock," read a fruity voice behind her shoulder, causing her to squeak. "What?! No signature?!" Tall with lush black hair and eyelashes that could rival Güzel, Ju-Eun Sonha stole the letter. "No name, but good, stylish penmanship, definitely male." She ran the letter under her nose, flaring her nostrils. "Do I detect rose essence?"
Tsubaki snatched it back. Thank Goz, he's smart enough to not include a name. "You tell me. Your nose is better than mine."
"Well, judging from the tone, you're involved in something secretive or illicit! What is it? Drugs? A passionate affair? Or both?"
If Tsubaki weren't so tired she might have laughed.
"Is it from Minamino who whisked you away from us yesterday or do you have another paramour—"
"That's enough Ju-Eun," Esumi nudged the willowy girl aside hard, guiding a timid first year, judging by the mustard-yellow coat of arms on her sweater, to the center of attention. "Sorry to spoil the fun, but we came here for a reason, remember?"
Jealousy, thick and repugnant, hugged Tsubaki tight. Damn Esumi, you really reek today.
"Right, First in Command, this is the new recruit. We had to look under every rock, under every bridge, within every alley, but we found her," said Ju-Eun.
"Hideko Ohmae," she bowed, stressing her name as if she had stood in the mirror all morning practicing.
"The fresh lamb for sacrifice," said Tsubaki. She sized up the first year. Cute freckles, bobbed brown hair, quiet but impressive when pushed to her limits, calluses on her fingers from competitive Shogi, ambitious and she comes from a family of middle-class teachers. On scholarship, just like Mikata and me.
The girl rubbed her forehead, blinking rapidly until Tsubaki bounced out of her head.
Ohmae actually took a step back at Tsubaki's greeting.
"She's joking," Esumi patted her shoulder, with a tight simper.
"We're doing drills tonight," said Ju-Eun, with a gleeful clap. "We'll show her the ropes and see if she has the mental capacity."
Tsubaki nodded. Ju-Eun's study drills entailed studying in private karaoke room in one of her family's bars, downing shots of Soju while being bombarded with questions. ("To build mental capacity and stamina! If you can answer when sloshed, you won't even have to think about it when you're sober!" Ju-Eun swore but Tsubaki chided that scientific evidence proved the opposite…)
"Study hard. Drink responsibly. I mean it." She wagged a finger at Ju-Eun. While her methods were unorthodox, Mikata swore they yielded surprising results. ("She mostly does it to scare the weaker ones away." She said once after a committed night of drills resulted in a team-wide bout of hangovers. They won regionals the next day.)
"Is Yabu-san not joining?" asked Ohmae.
Tsubaki's mouth twisted. Her mother was called Yabu-san and hearing it from the first year made her feel old.
"She doesn't ever join study drills," said Esumi, her voice extra snooty.
"She doesn't drink, is all," said Ju-Eun with a dramatic pout.
"Ju-Eun is a studious drunk. I'm a very sleepy drunk," she winked at Ohmae. "I'm jealous. I'm going to miss Sonha's gamjatang."
"You could have alllll you wanted if you would jooooin us for study drinks—"
At that moment even the non-clairvoyant girls sensed the hot aura, launched towards Tsubaki's head like a poisoned arrow.
"Incoming," Ju-Eun giggled, nudging Ohmae aside to clear a path for their Third in Command, Mikata Kumashiro.
"You better leave if you don't want to get caught in the fray," said Tsubaki and Ju-Eun nodded.
Mikata trudged, sun glare in her glasses, to their spot before dropping her bag brusquely on the table. She slammed her hands on the table. "OK—spill."
Tsubaki knew exactly what, but she couldn't help feigning disinterest. She hid Kurama's note behind her back. "Spill what?"
Mikata slumped into her chair and adjusted her pigtails. "You know damn well what. First, you acted weird on Monday, then you missed school on Tuesday, at the lecture you arrived looking like you were in a fight and then waltzed away into the night with Shuichi Minamino from Meoiu. Everyone has been asking me about it and I'm tired of not knowing. What's going on?"
"Since when is the entire student body interested in me? Word is traveling awfully fast for some dull science club rumors. Is it a slow gossip day?" Tsubaki filled her mouth with rice and seaweed.
Mikata exhaled to soothe the emotional jitters. "I'm not in the mood for jokes. You have to tell me. I can understand if you don't want others to know, but you have to tell me at least."
Tsubaki saw from Mikata's head the images of Shuichi Minamino gracefully courting her, asking for her number, taking her hand and confessing his love and then pulling her into his embrace with tears running down her cheeks, then the scene fading to black, rose petals circling in the wind for some reason...
Her lip upturned from her churning stomach, I should stay out of that hotbed of shoujo manga. She then smacked herself on the forehead. "Of course! Tatta Hitotsu no Renai #44 came out yesterday."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Mikata muttered but the nervous fretful adjustment of her glasses betrayed her.
"It means you were up late last night, reading romance manga, filling your head with fluff."
"…It only takes me 30 minutes to read a whole volume so I don't know what you're insinuating…"
"You read too many romance mangas."
"I only follow three these days. Fewer than before."
"What about your fiction works, Mikata Kumashiro? The ones based on Kyo/Rei's relationship. You stayed up late writing another one, didn't you? There was a very big reveal judging by all of the excited fangirls on the train this morning."
The redness then in her neck. "There was a huge reveal, but you're deflecting. Tatta is irrelevant to what transpired with you yesterday. At least we all know what I did last night, you're still a mystery…"
Tsubaki's heart raced, as it always did when the spotlight was on her. She really hated to lie. "The deal is that Minamino is just another viewer of my scholarship project and he had some questions about my research," she said. The weight of her friend's prying gaze, that could match an Illusion, caused her to shrug. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's really nothing to tell."
"I don't buy it. You expect me to believe—hang on! I wrote this all down." She dug through her bag for her large notepad. Tsubaki saw pages and pages of scribbles of her ongoing fanfic. She cleared her throat and read. "You expect me to believe that Shuichi Minamino, the untamed, foxy prince of Meiou—"
Tsubaki chortled. "You actually wrote a whole essay…. Homeroom is about to start, we don't have time—"
"I will summarize. Relax and eat your onigiri." She cleared her throat. "Theory: Minamino used the lecture as a ploy to get you alone to make a move. Point 1: Minamino has never attended one of our meetings before and decided to show up on the day you present.
"2: He didn't take notes and didn't participate in the Q&A.
"3: He didn't speak with anyone before, during, or after the lecture. Except when he was alone with you.
Mikata must have watched him closer than I did.
"4: Probably the most important, when I called your house yesterday your mother said you had left with Minamino after being alone with him in an empty house doing God-knows-what—"
"He implanted his seed in me, but otherwise we mostly talked," said Tsubaki, seeing the network of roots and vines under her skin. The plant twitched in her arm, practically deliberate. Oh, did you hear you were being talked about?
Nettled, with a sharp noise from her throat, Mikata pressed on. "Save your tasteless jokes and innuendo for after. Finally, if Minamino had academic questions, why not ask them in the auditorium with Ubata, Sano and Tamuro there to supervise? Instead, he offers to walk you home, alone. In conclusion, in my intelligent opinion, Minamino's actions were all to get you alone and you were happy to be alone with him to do God-knows-what, alone." She shut her notepad with an accomplished glint in her glasses. "So are you still trying to pretend that you and Minamino while you were alone only just talked about science?"
How many times could Mikata stuff the word 'alone' into a few sentences?
If Tsubaki wanted to be cheap, she could easily mention Ichiro Daigo of Meiou, the boy who was hopelessly smitten with Mikata. From such a calm face you'd think was studious, came an outpour of lovesick thoughts about her best friend during every lecture. Of course, she had no idea the boy even existed. How could she? The boy could only bear to sneak glances at her, forget about talking to her. Sure, he was no Kyo from Tatta but with his bed-head hair that could be construed as artfully messy, Tsubaki believed Mikata could find the sexy but sensitive bishounen in him.
However tempting, Tsubaki wouldn't go there. Mikata deserved better. Until he gave up being a coward, he'd never be good enough for her.
"I don't have a rebuttal drafted, but yes, I am sticking to my story," said Tsubaki. "I suggest you send that work to Ju-Eun and Esumi for peer review."
Mikata snickered. "Esumi hates you, by the way."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"She hates you for yesterday, I mean. I thought you knew. She has crushed on Minamino for years."
"Not my problem, but she has nothing to worry about."
"You never did tell me why you went to the Bay on Monday. Wait a minute," said Mikata and then Tsubaki could see the puzzle pieces fitting together in her head. "Of course. Why didn't I see it? When you left early, you met him, didn't you?"
Damn. Chewing on a stiff sheet of seaweed, Tsubaki took her sweet time before answering.
A smart companion, Mikata wasn't easy to fool. If only the situation really were so mundane and didn't evolve supernatural beings and Spirit World...
Feeling generous Tsubaki nodded.
Mikata slapped her hands over her mouth, repressing a squeal.
"But before you get excited, nothing even close to romantic happened." Who knew what Kurama's perversions were, but Tsubaki didn't find anything romantic about blood lust plants waiting to chomp on her head. If she had hesitated a second longer, the plants would still be digesting her carcass like a snake. If he fancied it, he could turn her into a bloody flower bush with a single word. "I've haven't read much manga, but I'm sure romantic scenes happen in cute cafes and frankly, there isn't anything remotely romantic or sexy about the industrial bay."
"There could be love motels in that area or you could be lying about meeting there."
Damn Mikata. "Check my rail pass," she bluffed. "Why would I make up something so specific as the bay? And why would I go all the way there for a love motel?"
Thankfully, Mikata relented, without asking for her pass. "I was joking about the love motels since you brought up the sexual innuendo. But, really, why go to the bay?"
"We have...a mutual out there. That's how we know each other. I've actually known Minamino for a long time."
"Why haven't you ever mentioned knowing him before?"
"Honestly? I forgot. Monday was the first time I've run into him in a very long time."
Mikata narrowed her eyes, testing if Tsubaki could withstand her strong gaze. "You better not be lying to me."
"You know I hate lying."
Mikata sighed. "That's true."
"Besides, I don't like Minamino. You already know about…." She pictured Sessue Tamuro, her mentor. Olive-eyed, smart, looked heart-meltingly good in his trademark black sweaters.
Mikata nodded. "You know…he's too old and as your mentor, it would scandalize his academic career. You wouldn't want him to give that up, would you?"
"You know I never would." She was sixteen, he was twenty and her academic mentor. To her, it wasn't fair that she couldn't court him because in the human world she was considered too young. In real time, where it mattered, she'd be the cradle-robber.
"Fine. I see where you stand, but what about Minamino? Everyone is saying the whole ordeal was a pick-up."
Tsubaki shook her head hard, loose hairs falling out from her ponytail. "I promise he wasn't trying to pick me up. I don't sense that vibe at all. Trust me, he doesn't like me." Again, Tsubaki didn't know what his perversions were but she hoped he didn't implant girls he fancied with death plants. "Besides, I bet you he's a big-breast kind of man. Esumi would be perfect for him."
"You're especially snarky today." Mikata resigned and Tsubaki listened in as she reconsidered.
This is Tsubaki after all. As socially unaware as she is, she has a magically acute sense for discerning suitors. Wish I could do that. If Minamino liked her, she would have sniffed it out, not that he has any known history of romantic pursuits, much to the dismay of his many admirers and Esumi.
…but he walked her home and when she agreed…call me a hopeless romantic but I wanted to cruise that ship for all it was worth.
The now sinking ship...
Tsubaki hopped out, remembering why she didn't delve deep into her lovey-dovey mind after the monthly releases of romance manga. Also, in her weakened state, reading minds took more energy than it should have.
With a heavy sigh, Mikata flapped her lips. "This was all anticlimactic. I told everyone I would get the first account from you. Now I have nothing juicy."
Dull images of the mysterious redhead walking her friend home, talking about psychology, played in her head.
Really, though, Shuichi Minamino? Just to chat about schoolwork? "Man, what a nerd," she said with contempt.
Tsubaki snickered.
Rumors needed fuel, information, and an audience. Esumi hadn't been the only person to give her the stink eye that morning but Mikata was the only one so far that confronted her.
While she found the jealousy and the effort people took to craft a story amusing, the fact that Minamino's affections were considered a prize she ought to appreciate was grating. For all of her academic accomplishments, this was what made her level up in her classmates' eyes. A boy. A false Prince Charming who would let her suffer from a death plant.
The Jaganshi was insulting, Kurama was infuriating. Under his genteel Shuichi shell was the sly Kurama.
Yet.
His rose-scented note was an annoying thorn in her side. He knew where she lived, he knew where to find her at school, and was able to find her favorite spot in Aojo Common, clearly. With his death plant, he could easily force her to accept. Yet he presented her with a choice.
Show or don't show. No 'or else', because that bastard knew it wasn't necessary.
Oh, how it pissed her off. She wedged the note painfully against her palm, the one that smelled of rose essence.
Yet…and she'd never tell anyone, she was intrigued.
For Mikata, she had squeed at the scandal. All for naught. The boys had swelled with admiration for his gall to approach her with so many witnesses, with a high risk of embarrassment if he had failed. Meanwhile, Mikata had seen Esumi and a few other girls smolder with envy, wishing themselves as the flower Minamino had plucked out of many from his garden to cherish all to himself... OK. Maybe Tsubaki had a point about her reading 'too many mangas'...
For a smart girl, Tsubaki could miss social cues like a dolt and under appreciate the excitement the situation warranted. The situation of two top students, attractive yet neither ever romantically linked, to pair off without a moment of hesitation as if they just clicked, as if love at first sight... Her heart almost burst as she watched them leave together. When Minamino offered to carry Tsubaki's bag, her cheeks had puffed from withholding a delighted squeal that would have put avid junior high fan-girls to shame.
Minamino had been popular with his perfect scores but also his humility and eloquent demeanor, packed in a fit body with gorgeous red hair. Pegged as a loner, they romanticized him, especially after news spread about his terminally ill mother. Suddenly he wasn't antisocial but a broody, misunderstood young man fending for himself while he looked over his sweet mother as her condition deteriorated. His long gazes out of the third-floor window were no longer out of boredom but worry for the instability at home. Whenever his classmates would approach he'd smile with a heaviness, hiding it and bearing it alone, one against the world. Of course, the girls went nuts over him.
Tsubaki's mouth twisted like she ate something sour in her rice ball.
"Wait? Terminally ill mother?" said Tsubaki.
She blinked at her friend. Her clairvoyance could surprise her at times. "I didn't say anything—"
"I mean, I've heard some things about Minamino. His mother was sick or something?"
"Oh yeah, they said she was terminal but then made a full recovery. They say it was a miracle."
She did it then. The glazed look in her eyes that said she was in her head and far, far away from their conversation, thinking a million thoughts per minute.
"Just ask Minamino the next time you see him," she said and Tsubaki pressed her weight against the arm behind her back.
The first bell rang and the crowds began shuffling inside to their respective schools. Right as the girls left their table, Tsubaki turned back to the rose bush. She smelled one before picking it at the stem.
"You're going to make rumors worse if you carry that around."
Carrying it daintily, Tsubaki winked. "Just want it for safe keeping."
Regardless of how much her friend claimed otherwise, Mikata could swear on her entire manga collection that there was at least a tiny part of Tsubaki who was enjoying the rumors.
She saw Tsubaki flinch when straightening her arm.
"By the way, you never told me what happened to that elbow." She had first noticed it the prior day when Minamino pointed it out.
"It's cursed. Someone from a past life with a grudge."
Mikata rolled her eyes. "I hate it when I can't get a straight answer from you."
"You HAVE to join Minamino. The way you were able to diffuse the situation Osamu created yesterday just proves you're a perfect match," said Daigo, pressing his palms together so hard his wrists shook. First chance that morning, Daigo bombarded Kurama with Inada and Osamu stewing from a distance.
Kurama didn't dare peel his eyes away from his homework to face him. "Really, my accompanying you last time was a one-time excursion."
"If you joined we'd finally have enough manpower."
"Daigo, I told you, he's not interested." Inada finally dragged him back by the collar to give Minamino some breathing space.
Daigo broke out of his friend's clutches. "I'm not giving up this time. It would mean we could compete and make it enough rounds and then face the Aojo team. As an equal and worthy competitor, I could finally talk to Kumashiro."
Speaking to her doesn't require such an elaborate scheme, Kurama wanted to tell him.
Inada sighed. "Look, no offense to Minamino, but even with him, we'd still lose against those Aoshoujos. It would look terrible when you lose miserably against them. Think of each of them as a finely tuned machine built to beat your ass.
"Ju-Eun Sonha, the drill sergeant, she'll out-drink you until you're lying in a pool of your own puke under a table at one of her family's many bars. Has never lost a lightning round."
"Mao Chen, from Singapore, third year, she can debate you and win in five languages, has every top uni in the country knocking on her door."
"Mirei Esumi, Second in Command, known as the face of the crew since she's the best looking but also because she's two-faced, nice tits though, also their token mathematician, probably from counting her parents' cash. Once she turns twenty she'll inherit more money than we'll ever see in our lives. According to my insiders, she hates being Second."
"You're forgetting their Third in Command, Kumashiro, Daigo's favorite," said Osamu, finally chiming in.
Inada put a sympathetic, chummy arm on Daigo's shoulders. "She does have this..naughty librarian thing about her, but I've heard the way you've talked about her. Daigo, she doesn't exist. She's just an illusion."
You're thinking of the other one, thought Kurama.
"Then there's First in Command, Tsubaki Yabu. Well, you saw yesterday, do I even have to explain her?" said Inada.
Daigo shook his head. "She is Kumashiro's best friend. She's not that bad. But there's something about her that I can't quite put my finger on. The way she looks at you, how do you put it? She lives in her own head, she's a bit dreamy I think."
Or nightmarish, Kurama remembered her at arm's length from his sweet mother.
The boys backpedaled at the irritated tick in his brows. "Of course Minamino, everyone on the team knows you've already called dibs on Yabu," said Daigo.
The directness and total misread of his expression were finally enough for Kurama to face them.
"I've wanted to say that was so ballsy what you did. Making a move on her in front of everyone. Even the teachers couldn't believe it," said Inada, giving him a thumbs-up.
Kurama blinked at them, but then remembered their pairing off after the lecture and understood how they could misinterpret the interaction.
"There seems to be a very irksome misunderstanding..."
His words went ignored, Daigo patted him on the shoulder in respect. "You're an inspiration to us all. See? That's why you need to join. Your brazen, fierce leadership would shape us up in no time."
Kurama saw the time on the wall. "I have to leave."
"Great, so you'll think about it?"
Kurama left the question hanging as he shut the door behind him.
"So you saw her dark energy and a vine in her arm?" Kuwabara stretched his long arms on the park bench. His large body and loud voice took more than his share of space.
Yusuke, Botan, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei sat in the park during their lunch hour after Kurama reached out to them.
"As a human, she is known as Tsubaki Yabu of Aojo Private School for Girls," said Kurama. "I confirmed it yesterday."
"So we all ran into her yesterday in one way," said Yusuke, flipping with the Spyglass between his fingers.
"She's not that scary up close. She also sort of helped us stop a frost monster, " said Kuwabara. "Then she said she's not interested in destroying the human world."
"Don't forget, it could be another one of her tricks," said Botan.
"It's nothing to worry about. Once the curse strikes again, which it will, I will put an end to her misery myself," said Hiei.
"You can't actually kill her Hiei!" cried Botan.
"Don't do anything rash. I don't trust these Illusions," said Yusuke.
"We have put her in a more desperate position. Animals worked into a corner tend to act out," said Kurama.
"I'll say, after what I saw with the Psychic Spyglass, her arm and Kurama's plant, I'd say she's gotta be feeling desperate," said Yusuke.
"She has been desperate since the beginning. You mistake her arrogant charade for coolness," said Hiei.
"She is arrogant, but I don't believe she is stupid," said Kurama.
"You haven't heard what I heard nor have you seen what I've seen," said Hiei.
"I have heard some," said Kurama. "Has it become a little personal for your Jagan eye?"
"Really, guys, this is no time for pride. Teamwork is the best strategy," said Botan.
"Right, we need to stick together. They're super tricky and not to be trusted," said Kuwabara.
"Hang on just a minute," said Botan. "Not all Illusions are bad. Kuvvet has been patient with you and according to him, you boys underestimated the situation. That's why you failed to catch her in the alley."
"Well, if you think about it," said Kuwabara. "Kuvvet was the one to sic Rando on me for asking a simple question and Tsubaki was the one who squashed Rando."
"She did that?" asked Yusuke.
"Next time I see her, I need to tell her that she jumped the gun," said Kuwabara. "I was about to counterattack before she showed up. She also seemed pretty pissed off that you fired your spirit gun at her after she helped."
"How was I supposed to know that?" Yusuke crossed his arms, huffing. "For a bunch of superior beings who claim to see loads they sure as hell don't see how they rub people the wrong way."
"I do sense a disconnect in her expectations and ours," said Kurama. "She certainly keeps score."
"Why do I feel someone's been keeping score for a long time?" said Kuwabara.
"Funny, the Illusion we're supposed to arrest is helping us while the Illusion who is supposed to help is nowhere to be found," said Yusuke. "By the way, where the hell is Kuvvet?"
"He said yesterday that he is going to seek help from other Illusions," said Botan.
"Great. That's just what we need," said Yusuke. "More of them."
"I don't know about you, but I would rather take care of it before I have to see more of them. They give me the creeps, even when they do save us from an evil frost-breathing monster," said Kuwabara.
Botan pouted. "I wish now I had asked Kuvvet to come with me before he left. If you only spoke to him for a little bit I think you would understand them a bit more."
"Forget about him. If Kurama knows her school," said Yusuke. "At least she's easy to find."
"It is strange how easy she made it," said Botan.
"A little too easy," said Hiei.
"Wouldn't it be simple to ambush her at her home?" Kuwabara said. "Isn't that easiest?"
"She says she doesn't want her human mother to find out. It's not an unreasonable thing to ask," said Kurama.
"She doesn't want to upset her human family, huh?" said Botan. "I'm inclined to agree even though she is the antagonist here. Humans aren't supposed to know about any of this and if that means she promises not to use them as a shield all the better."
With arresting her at her human home out of the question, that left fighting her at random. "So how are we supposed to combat her?" said Yusuke.
"It's simple. Play by her rules and beat her at her own game," Kurama said.
"I'll admit I thought this case would be so simple. Arrest Anahtar and hand her to the Illusions—Boom! Another job well-done." Botan drummed her finger into her chin. "If you say she is weakened that might buy us some time. It might be worth it to just wait for Kuvvet to return before trying to arrest her again."
"I have a question about jurisdiction. By any chance does Kuvvet need Spirit World's permission to be here?" asked Kurama.
It was hard to imagine giving an incorporeal being permission to be anywhere.
"Well technically yes. Koenma granted Kuvvet permission to be in the human world. Anahtar is considered illegal here…hmmm…though now that you mention it…that was before we found out she's living as a human. Oh gosh, that complicates things even more. We can't extradite humans to the other worlds."
"Wait! Even though she's really not human?" asked Kuwabara.
"Still certified flesh and bone human. No can do even if the Illusions have good reason to want her back. Also, there are other issues I forgot to mention. Arresting her is one thing but containment is another. Spirit World doesn't have a facility to hold Illusions so the best we can do is confine her here, which brings us back to square one." said Botan with a nervous laugh. "I haven't told Kuvvet this yet…"
"So she is stuck here?" said Yusuke. Great.
"Well, that's a good explanation of why she showed her human side immediately. Assuming she knows that of course," said Kurama.
Hiei snorted. "So Spirit World just wasted our time."
"I didn't say you couldn't stop her," retorted Botan, frazzled, red in her cheeks. "You still have to arrest her before we can do anything else."
"You can extradite an Illusion but not a human, you said," said Kurama. "It's purely my speculation, but what if we could somehow get Anahtar to shed Tsubaki Yabu?"
"You mean if she were only Illusion and not human? Then it wouldn't be a problem. We could extradite her lickety-split."
"Would be better in the reverse. I'd rather face her as a human. She'd be a piece of cake. You know, if I fought girls," said Kuwabara.
"But then there's the question of how we can do that," said Kurama. "She swears Anahtar and Tsubaki are a joint endeavor and I have good reason to believe she isn't lying."
"Kuvvet might be able to think of something once I tell him," said Botan.
"Who's to say that he doesn't already know about her human side? I have a feeling he and the Illusions aren't the types to care about a 'no' from Spirit World."
"I don't know. Dealing with a human could be why they reached out to Spirit World in the first place and didn't just take matters into their own hands," said Kuwabara.
"That's a smart point. That would mean Spirit World will have their hands full soon," said Kurama.
"We can't assume that Kuvvet—the Illusions I mean, will follow the rules only to break them in the end," said Botan.
"I don't know. You didn't see what I saw between them. He's desperate to catch her and Tsubaki's ready to attack. He may seem polite but to me, he's not going to let something some law keep him from what he wants."
"If I may intervene," said a voice that sounded as if it came from all around them.
With curls as blue as the cloudless sky, the Illusion approached them. The midday sun emphasized his transparent features as if he were just a hologram.
Speak of the devil and he will come.
"Kuvvet, good you're here," said Botan.
"May I ask, is there a reason why you aren't using its name, Anahtar?"
Yusuke exchanged confused looks with everyone.
"You mean Tsubaki? It's the same thing but her human side," said Kuwabara.
"She doesn't really exist. I told you before to not misname it," said Kuvvet. "It may seem trivial but I must stress it."
"Alright, fine, Anahtar," said Yusuke.
"Before, what the detective said is correct. I do know of Anahtar's human side and it is why I sought help from Spirit World. We influence humans all the time, but actual flesh and bone, we never touch."
"Unfortunately, we can't extradite a human. A procedure doesn't even exist," said Botan.
"I see, that is troubling indeed."
"Seems there's a giant roadblock," said Yusuke, stretching his arms over his head.
"There is another way," he said. "What if I told you there's a way to split her Illusion side apart from her human side?" He lifted his billowing sleeve and Yusuke saw in his hand he held a solid doll with shimmery blue fibers. What intrigued him the most was the distended eyelid in the doll's forehead.
Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
A longish one, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you, Yileen, as always. I'm glad you're excited for what is to come. I'm not sure how obvious the pairing was before, but it should be clear as crystal after this chapter. Other pairings I've written started on neutral ground but this one will take some work to become convincing but of course, this story is not just about the pairing. Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback or criticism I've love to hear it.
