The Winter of the Ubume

An LLS Production

九:水仙

❆Viktor❆

I had not expected much when I came to Hasetsu.

The fact that Yuuri's family owns a hot springs inn is a pleasant surprise, of course. Ice Castle Hasetsu was even more convenient as a home base for training, as was Minako's ballet studio. However, the real surprise generally wasn't expected in broad daylight.

"Woof." "Gav."

"You're really having fun, eh, Makkachin?" I teased my pet as she played with the... thing outside. "You know, you don't look like an okuri inu or a man-eating dog."

The other poodle sat back on its haunches, glared at me – yes, it glared – and barked.

"Ah, Viktor, what are you doing?" Yuuri padded down towards me and the front entrance of Yū-topia Akatsuki to find me perched on the highest step of the gate, away from that hell-beast of darkness. Said hell-beast turned away from me to trot over and receive an affectionate pat from Yuuri with a fond look.

Why can't Yuuri give me those looks?

"N- Nothing, just got shocked by his bark." The poodle from hell licked Yuuri's fingers, and Yuuri let him, like it was the most natural move in the world. "I- I thought you were asleep?"

"I was, but... it's strange." Yuuri gave me a small smile, that... "It felt like... like Vicchan came in a dream to scold me."

…

..

.

It took me a while to process what Yuuri had said. For a moment, I thought it was something lost in translation again, until I realised that no matter how that sentence was phrased, it was meant literally.

Hasetsu is a place where the dukh of Japan come to party every Monday, their local protective gods hold flower-viewing parties, and Yuuri's sister has the strength to fell a tree without an axe. Of course Yuuri's late pet would visit his dreams to scold him. How, I had no idea. Presumably they talk. Or presumably doggy dreamland looks like human dreamland.

"Ah, Yuuri!" Yuuri father came over to talk to Yuuri again, carrying an older Japanese man that I left out of my attention. That is, until the hell-beast gave another growl that caused both of them to jump.

The Japanese exchanged words until the older men left, and Yuuri slumped. "Sorry, Viktor. My dad said that a priest would be coming over to conduct rites for Vicchan."

"Really?!" I exclaimed. "You conduct pet funerals in Japan?"

"No, Vicchan's a special case. Dad said that he thought my bad luck was due to..." Yuuri put his face in his hands. "..."

"Sorry?" I leant closer.

The hands moved. "...due to Vicchan placing a curse on us."

My first question was to ask why, since a dog could not be self-aware. Then I chided myself, because certainly Makkachin was being more sensible out of the two of us, so I clearly had no philosophical base to debate on the subject of poodle intelligence. After which, the malicious being from last night crossed my mind. This was followed by an image of Atarime-hiko, Unihime and Yuuri dressed in a cloak of feathers, about to take to the skies.

Oh, I realised. No wonder Yuuri didn't want to tell me. If I was doubting myself afterwards, then how many more before me, without my adult consideration for the students under me, would pay as much credence to Yuuri's words?

It then struck me that, if Mr Katsuki had just realised that his son was being cursed by his dead and departed pet dog returned, then putting its soul – assuming that it has one, the priests back in church had nothing to say on the topic of animals' souls – would be the best thing to do immediately. It also struck me that this was done with minimal fuss or questioning, which is even more amazing.

Or perhaps, Mr Katsuki had just seen literally everything in running an inn.

Yuuri sighed. "I'm sorry you had to-"

"It's fine," I cut him off. I don't think I was ever as wild as to merit Yakov pulling a dead and preserved dog's head in bandages out of a shrine in the middle of a full-moon night. At least. "But, are you alright?"

"..." Yuuri's weighted shifted from one leg to the other. His hands twitched. "I guess. I... think I'll run around Hasetsu once before I go to Ice Castle." His head turned. "Are you coming along?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but the hell-beast barked. And it glared. Surely it- oh, it growled, causing us all to jump.

"I... gotta call Yurio." I fled.

"Viktor?!"

I didn't reply. I was too busy fleeing. Makkachin's bark echoed behind me. I closed the door behind me, the flimsy barrier erected between me and that hell-beast... which I had to fight for Yuuri's attention.

Right, I did say that I was going to call Yurio first... after I dig out my luggage. Did I bring Mama's cross?

As I pondered that, a thought occurred to me, about a cloak of crane feathers, a red helmet, and winged Lohengrin swooping in to champion the fair damsel.

Ah... I can't give Yuuri the Agape.

❅Yuuri❅

I arrived at Ice Castle with the poodle okuri inu in tow. He was... is so obedient. So affectionate.

He's still here.

I knelt down at the steps leading up to the glass doors, to look into his eyes. "Did you come back for us... Vicchan?"

"Wan."

I giggled as he licked the finger I extended. "Eh... I know. Does Mum and Dad know?"

A solemn nod.

"I see... Kyō-sama told them?"

"Wan."

"You came back... to find your killer, right?"

A pause. "Arf."

"You can't eat people, alright, Vicchan?" I paused. "And I can't let Viktor know that I named him after you-"

"Grr."

"Ahaha, you like your name, of course." I gave him a belly rub as Vicchan rolled over, tongue lolling out. "I have practice, though. Can you make your own way back?"

Vicchan didn't listen, or found it convenient not to, since Yuu-chan's next words were: "Ah, did Viktor's dog follow you to practice, Yuuri?"

I looked down. A pink tongue lolled innocently at me.

"Very funny." I looked back to Yuu-chan. "Erm... well, we found Vicchan's head."

Yuu-chan dropped her pen. "What?"

She stood in silence through the abridged summary of events I gave her, and when I finished, she sank down on the floor behind the counter. When she got up a second later, it was with a pale expression.

"Someone tried to use Vicchan to make an inugami?!"

"Keep quiet!" I hissed, flailing. "K- I mean, Mari-neechan is using her contacts, and so far they've confirmed that the ritual failed, so... yeah. But..." my hand pointed down. "He came back..."

Yuu-chan blinked at the spectral dog. My spectral dog blinked back. "Arf."

"Who would do such a thing?!" Yuu-chan looked askance. "Erm... so, the okuri inu around here..."

"Is Vicchan." I looked around before I asked her: "Did you know if... people were attacked?"

"Not at all!" Yuu-chan looked down at Vicchan. "It was just strange. When yōkai move out of their natural habitat... that's due to humans. You came back to find that person, right... Vicchan?"

"Arf."

Yuuko shuddered. "An inugami is a danger to everyone in town, not just one house. For what it's worth... I hope you find him."

"Woof!" Vicchan's tongue lolled out.

"And, Yuuri-kun, I hope Vicchan can support you!" Yuu-chan forced a smile.

"Yes... thank you." The words of the daiyōkai that Mari-neechan had allied with came back to me in an instant.

"To create an inugami, any pet dog would do," Kyō-sama had explained then. "Your Vicchan was of no use, from a magical point of view, for the grudge needed to craft an inugami."

"However, we found his head, the remnants of a botched ritual, and signs of Vicchan's... transition," I reasoned. "Why would he... use Vicchan?"

Kyō Kaigara frowned at me. "That is the wrong question, young Katsuki. The first error is assuming that Vicchan itself had to do with the choice of creating an inugami. The second was to assume that this was the first attempt."

She said nothing more, letting me think my way through. Mari-neechan shot her a look. "Can't you just tell him?"

Cheep. Cheep. Even crickets would have given me a more straightforward answer.

I thought about it, since she wasn't going to give me more answers. If Vicchan wasn't the actual target, then why use an inugami at all? Creating an inugami cursed the entire bloodline, turning the family line into an inugami-mochi family, a subset of tsukimono-suji. While such families are feared and envied for the ability to steal happiness from others, creating one in western Japan was just asking for the cops to pay special attention if word got out.

So, my erroneous assumptions were:

1. Vicchan was deliberately targeted.

2. This was the first attempt-

"Wait, if... whoever's behind this tried this before, then why weren't we hit?" I spoke up. "And why didn't Unihime tell us? Never mind, I know, the rules of the kami," I cut in as she opened her mouth. "So... all previous attempts didn't succeed, or were negligible. And the only reason we noticed now is because this person is escalating. And the only reason to escalate at all is... because those attempts failed too."

My eyes fell onto Mari-neechan and Kyō-sama. "Because we were protected?"

"Considering that you run an inn frequented by both humans and yōkai, is it so hard to imagine that we protect our own?" Kyō-sama gave a throaty laugh.

"The only reason to resort to the taint of employing animal spirits is to combat animal spirits," I realised. "The escalation is because... that person thinks we're tsukimono-suji, and that... V- Vicchan was a tsukimono."

In Shinto, almost anything can possess a human. When they do, they are all known by a single name— tsukimono, the Possessing Things. This is rarely a spontaneous event—often, the yōkai possesses the human as an act of revenge, or simple greed, or for reasons are as innumerable as the yōkai themselves. The most terrifying thing was, such yōkai could be bribed into employment by a human family—these were the tsukimono-suji. Often, the nouveaux riches were labelled as such families – for there was no other sensible explanation for their leap from rags to riches.

"Why would he think that?!" I asked. "We're running a run-down inn!"

"You're running the only inn that has managed to survive a town slowly dying, and is currently being revitalised by the arrival of your skating idol," Kyō Kaigara pointed out. "You know, when they say that someone is 'possessed by good fortune', they mean our kind of possessed. What your enemy wants is to remove this without anyone suspecting him of his crimes. So, during these seven days where everyone is pouring in for the Hot Springs on Ice, he will definitely make a move..."

"...move, Yuuri?"

"Huh?!" I snapped out of my daydream – there was Viktor, and there was...

...right.

Viktor is finally going to start teaching me today. Whether or not this is my last season rides on this. Vicchan is watching me from the sidelines. If I wimp out here... I'll never win.

The "Hot Springs on Ice", and after that, the Grand Prix final...!

These seven days...

❄Yuri❄

One more week to that fucking contest. Hot Springs on Ice, who does that?! And now Viktor's distracted and everyone's frazzled because of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. By which I meant the dog's head. God, the sooner I can get out of this creepy town the better-

"Yurio! Let's go!"

"Huh? Huh?!" I exclaimed as Viktor came to the open bar where I was checking my phone. It was eight, and the news was on-

"Yuuri said that he'll catch up later," Viktor was smiling, but he looked... tired. "I talked it over with Mari, and they're leaving it up to me."

Right. Because exercise can overcome any horror you found when your pet dog's head was stuck by some psycho in a shrine. "Oh? He finally got off his ass."

"How do I say it... he wants to do it, and... the show must go on," Viktor's face shut off slightly. "This is also a trial of willpower."

I stood up. "I got it."

Don't blame me, piggy. Blame your own terrible luck.

The fatso was daydreaming through Agape. I dearly wanted to as well. It was sweet and boring, no wonder. Viktor called him out, and a stab of vindictiveness that rippled across my skin was only slightly dampened by the fact that Viktor was being extra nice – since the fatso's mutt was actually sitting by the sidelines.

"It's... very innocent..." I tuned out the rest of his words.

Viktor finally played a piece with a danceable beat.

"Viktor, I wanna skate to this piece!" I shouted.

Viktor hit the pause button. "The first piece is 'On Love: Agape'. Its theme is unconditional love. And this piece is 'On Love: Eros'. The theme is sexual love. I'll have you two skate to these opposing themes."

Then the bastard did something that I would never expect of him:

"Yuuri, you'll skate to 'Eros'! And Yurio, you'll do 'Agape'!"

"SWITCH THEM!"

Critiquez, s'il vous plaît !