Note!

Due to being very close to being broke... I've opened a Ko-fi account, under the name Daeore. Look for the mask, and yes that's me. If you've enjoyed my work, and can spare a little change, feel free to toss a coin to your writer. :) Maybe if I get enough, and my financial situation stabilizes, I'll finally commission some art of Kodori (and maybe even Haruhime)

I don't have enough to offer anything 'exclusive' and I would never paywall any of my work, so for now, it will simply be a donation page.

That said, on with the story. :)


Chapter 98

Work on the shrine proceeded apace, and by the time the lunch crew from the school arrived with a huge supply of onigiri, we had the 'basement' walls done, the mortal setting, the stairs and ceiling done, and most of the other small building foundations laid out. Some clever soul had managed to run pipes for real plumbing, so the bath I planned to install would have running water and not need a few dozen trips to the well to fill. The electrical was ready to be used, but was currently capped off. While there would be a little bit of 'modern convenience' built into the new shrine, it was going to be built without it.

I wasn't sure if it would matter, but with all my enchanting projects, I wanted a personal touch to this place. And with all the local youkai helping, they too would have a little touch of their own to its construction.

After lunch, we returned to work, letting some of the until now... less handy youkai shine a little. Construction work was not for everyone, and until now, some of the smaller youkai were really just there for the free food and very light duty. I didn't mind, since the entire point of involving them in the first place was to... well, involve them. But for this next part, we now had a job for them. The job?

Mixing clay.

You might wonder about that, but if you think about it, the only thing you need to do to 'mix' something, is move it around. And even if all you had was the body of a fish and the face of a human, you could just wiggle around a bunch inside a bucket, and have someone else near by so you didn't drown or something.

Yes... Most of the time after lunch was basically playing in the mud.

While that went on, the ones with bodies more suited to using tools started making the frames, supports and stilts for the various buildings.


After returning to my room, cleaning up a bit, baking a fresh batch of cookies and grabbing my notebook, I headed down to Gasper's room.

"Well." He said after a moment of looking through numbers on his laptop, "It would be easy enough to make a copy and back HIDA up. Hmm, maybe if I mirrored the drives..."

"That's a good idea. Until you run a magnet over her. Since I'm trying to keep my equipment as low tech as possible, I haven't bothered looking into things like magnetic motors or the like, but I did get hit with a magnetism spell that nearly made me a prisoner in my own armour."

"I could build an insulator for that, but... Yes you're right." Gasper sighed, "I would hate to have HIDA vanish. I mean... I have her base code here, but all the updates and her own learning would be back to zero."

"Solid state drives?" I suggested.

"They aren't a bad idea, but they still have a failure rate after a certain amount of reads and writes."

"Something else?" I smiled, "I mean, sure, we've stuck with 'real world' tech for the most part, and I'm sure the 'base model' can still be real world tech when you eventually sell it to NASA and become the richest half-vampire ever." I gave him a head pat as he blushed at the praise, "But, that doesn't mean the prototype needs to be."

"What would we use? I mean... there's been hints of crystal storage mediums, but they are basically only on paper right now..."

"Well, I just happen to have..." I took out a small block of Ko-steel, then a red crystal I'd grown in the lab, "Some things to try it with."

"That's right..." He made the most adorable 'thinking face' ever.

"You can't keep him Boss." Delly mumbled in my ear while I waited for Gasper to finish thinking.

"Sensei? Could you make more of these? Um, quartz would be best I think?" He held the imitation ruby on his palm, "Or maybe green... But not red or blue?"

"I'll get the lab on it tonight, before I set it up for the show on Friday." I nodded, "However, it's time for training. Want to walk with me?"

"Yes please."


After training, and being amazing once again by just how... innovative Issei was getting with his growing abilities, I returned to the shop with Shinkage and Delly. After making sure (redundantly) that Shinkage hadn't suffered any permanent harm from sparring with highly destructive yet silly planks of metal, cheaty-face swords or a sword that could be anything, I got one of my blank Ko-steel cards, sat down at a workbench and got my tiny hammer and chisel.

"Delly, I'm going to need your help with this one." I said.

"Oh? You don't usually need help with these." She stood on the table, holding her poofy wolf/fox tail, "Something different this time?"

"Yes. I need to keep the," I thought a moment about the right word, "Personality out of this. What I need is cold logic. It isn't about the 'person' but the 'topic'.

"O...kay. I think I get the meaning. I'll just um..." She reached a hand out to me, "Yeah..." And she vanished, the sparkles soaking into my skin. "Oh, it's... kinda nice in here now."

I could feel her mana kinda floating around in mine, "You okay? No problems?"

"Warm and fuzzy is the best description I think." A pause as her mana sort of... spread out a little, relaxed a bit? "I'm going to need you to relax a little more. Even from in here I can't really... exert a lot of power over you. Much easier when you're sleeping, but almost impossible while you're awake."

"Sure." I got up, closed the steel shutter door of the shop, locked it, and sat back down. I then turned my phone off with the auto reply of 'In the shop, yes I'm supervised.'. "Okay." I took a deep breath, picked up my tools, and thought about my wife's smile.

"NO! Bad Fox! You can't think of her and be clear headed." She gave me a metaphysical Karate Chop of Justice.

"Hm, true." I admitted, "Oh! I know just the thing." I closed my eyes again and thought of that really nice Cerberus pelt I had on my bed, and the scent of cinnamon from Yasaka's guest room.

"Oh! Yes, I can work with this. Just start working, I'll do the rest." I could almost imagine Delly purring along with me at the thought of soft fur to lay on, "No sleeping! And no imaginary bed mates."

"So picky." I mumbled, "Let's begin."


October 5

With two days left, the school was in a near panic with getting everything in place. Even as I started out of the building to head to the shrine, I could see all kinds of students arriving early. Surprising me further, the ORC crew was walking towards me as I neared the steps leading up to the shrine itself.

"Sensei!" Issei, looking far more cheerful than most of the rest of them greeted me first, "Look! What do you think?" He stepped aside, revealing Kunou in what I assumed was the junior school uniform. Instead of a skirt, she had track pants on, and the cut of the blouse was far more modest, but it was in the school's white and grey, with the pants being lavender coloured like the skirt.

And yes, she had that 'umbrella hat' on her head, even though there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

"It... feels kind of weird to not wear my hakama and robe..." Kunou commented.

"You do look adorable in it though." I said, "First day of school then?"

"Of a sort." Rias smiled, "Sona-san will be bringing her to one of the school assessors. Since she was home schooled, she will spend some time getting tutored, to catch her up if need be, and acclimate her to the school environment."

"Well, if she needs help, she just happens to know a bunch of naturally helpful people." I nodded.

"Have you taken a peek at the room we're using for the cafe?" Rias asked.

"Yes. Looks good so far. And Sona hasn't made noise about the shopping list, so I'm guessing it's all good there too." I replied, "My chemicals for the mad scientist's lab will arrive today I think, and I can set it all up on the morning of."

"Excellent." Rias nodded, "Shall we? We've much to do today, and more training to do tonight."

"Yes President!" They all chimed, before waving to my little group and heading towards the school once more.

"Well." I looked to Delly and Shinkage, "Let's go build some stuff."


Even if all they could do was lift a single clay roof tile, or roll over a rough patch of ground to smooth it, or even pick up stray pebbles or wood chips, I made sure no one was left out of the building efforts. By the time lunch came around, the entire frame for the main shrine had been built, and we were well on our way to having the 'specialized' rooms done. Stone and tile for the bathroom, holes for the pipes and wiring, a chimney for a small stove, a well insulated room for the study/library... I didn't plan on living here, and Akeno seemed quite happy living with Issei in the Hyoudou Harem Home, but I intended to make this place a home, just like it had been.

Just like Hestia would want it, right?


"You know." I commented as I took the first turn at the well (all nicely built now, with a proper little roof over it), "I'm starting to think you're rigging your arrival times."

Cime and the horse had just missed the lunch delivery, but not lunch. With all the preparation going on at the school, the usual brigade of rice ball delivering ladies had come, gotten a thank you, and left. We had basically just finished putting everything down to wash our hands, when the chime of sliver hooves started up the steps.

"As with humour, the delivery is everything." He replied, coming to a stop just outside the torii and dismounting, "Good afternoon. I left the bulk of your items with Sona." He fished around in a saddle bag for something, and came up with an envelope, "This however, is specifically addressed to you."

It was a simple, plain, white envelope. On it was written my name, first and last. That's it. "Huh... Well, I suppose I don't really have an address..." I accepted the offered letter and looked over it at Cime, "Who?"

"Sadly, I'm bound to keep my mouth shut. Usual disclaimer you know."

I nodded, since yes, I did know. I ripped the side of the envelope off carefully, peeked inside and shook out the single bit of paper. On it was a small map, a date, a time, and a name. "Well..." I felt two sinister presences hover over my shoulders, daring me to swear, "This is inconvenient." I took out my phone and brought up a map of Kuoh, then scrolled around until I found the spot on the map the letter depicted.

"I'm glad that what ever bad news you just got didn't incite you to shoot the messenger." Cime commented, looming just a little over me to see what I was doing.

"When I returned Cao Cao's body over to Siegfried, I said I'd duel him. Well, he just picked a time and place." I looked at the paper again, "And I respect a mail man who doesn't screw with my mail." I looked over the job site, spotting Delly as she nibbled on a rice ball while sitting on one of the guardian foxes, "Delly?"

She quickly stuffed the last bit into her mouth, an amusing sight considering it was almost the size of her head, gave her chest a couple of thumps to get it down properly, gave the fox a pat on the head, then flew over to me, "Boss? Bad news?"

"Siegfried wants that duel I offered him. Midnight, night of the full moon." I replied, bending my arm at the elbow so she could sit down, "And since Georg hasn't dropped off the dungeon segment, I'm gonna guess that will be my 'prize' for winning."

"You shoulda dealt with him then!" Delly punched her opposite palm, "POW! Head 'splody!"

I gave her a mini Karate Chop of Justice, "They gave up the field."

"They're dangerous people." Cime said, the Horse snorting agreement, "While yes, it would be somewhat dishonourable, you might not be having this problem had you done it."

"What if what if blah blah. No, I made the choice, so, what now?" I sighed, "You can handle the full moon?" I looked down at Delly.

"Of course! If you left Mr. Ganesha's card here we could co-ordinate that way too. You know, just in case He doesn't know what to do." She suggested, "Just don't go alone?"

"Problem?" Shinkage asked, slinking over to us, "You know I don't have thumbs."

"Remember Siegfried?" He nodded, "Time and place." I waved the paper, "Can I count on you to be my second?"

"Stupid question."

"Had to ask. Okay, settles that..." I sighed, "Want to stay for lunch?" I looked up at Cime.

"Wouldn't say no." He nodded, "I could deliver a reply for you, if you wanted?"

"Nah. But I suggest collecting the favour he owes you for bringing this to me. Before the full moon."


"I should have expected you'd react like this." I nodded, sipping tea and noting that once again Jiru was the best patch of moss ever, for making such nice tea leaves.

"Of course I'd 'react' like this! It's obviously a trap!" Rias replied while the rest of the ORC (no Leonardo today) and Kunou sat around in silence.

She'd gotten a forth couch, and we'd adjusted our seating accordingly. Kunou, Ravel and I were on the couch opposite her, while Rossweisse was in my usual spot with Asia, Koneko and Irina (Since yes, my tails liked to take up the space of another half person when they could). Kiba, Issei and Xenovia were on the last couch, while Akeno stood behind Rias, attentive as usual.

"It took everything we had to hold them off in Kyoto." Issei said.

"You are strong Sensei, but going with just you and Shinkage?" Xenovia added, "That Georg guy tossed him into orbit last time right?"

"You're quite adept at avoiding and resisting magic, but..." Rossweisse chimed in.

"It won't be just Shinkage." I sighed, "I'm not stupid. Even if he plays by the rules, I'm pretty sure the rest of them won't. I'll have Okakai, Fukawa, Kurin and maybe a couple others if I can reach them."

"But what about us Sensei?" Asia asked, "We... want to help you too."

"As a retained of the Gremory, MY retainer, I..."

She stopped talking as I let out a slow growling breath, "Rias, let me finish." They all sat a little straighter, and I set my tea cup down, "I promised I would do this. So, I must do this. But I need your help for something else, something far more important."

"See..." Delly started, and I picked up my tea cup again, signalling for her to continue, "That night, at midnight, I have to start the set up for a fairy circle. If a single thing goes wrong, we have to wait until the next full moon to try again."

"The timing is too convenient." I added, "As well, if I lose, the 'duel' will be over, and you can finish what I start."

"You won't lose!" Issei gave his vote of confidence.

"I might. I've only ever fought people with two arms before, and anything else I've fought with more than two, were monsters. Though, I don't intend on losing." I put a hand on Kunou's shoulder, "I do intend on training more, if my Sensei would be willing to help?"

"Of course, Kodori-san." She smiled up at me.

"Very well." Rias grumbled, "Speaking of, it is time to train."

"I will join you in a half hour." I said, "I have a surprise for Issei."


It was a picture of a shield. Etched upon the surface of the Ko-steel card was a picture of a shield. If this were a fantasy game or something, it would be the fanciest shield one could ever own, with complicated etching, distinct patterns, layered metal, pictograms of a few monstrous animals... It was fancy.

My craftswoman pride would never have let me make this in real life. It was far too... ornate. The first heavy sword strike, or sharp claw, would have ruined the hundreds of finely etched lines, but that was okay. There, on the card, every single line, monster picture, ridge, curve, and ornament had a purpose.

"Issei." I started, handing him the card, "Contained in this card, is every single memory I have of someone using a shield. Countless hours of practice, nearly as many live encounters, friends, enemies, Familia, every single one."

Yes, I didn't add all those useless looking decorations to the picture for nothing. Each mark represented a technique, every line, picture, ornament, ridge and curve, was me imprinting something different from all the other marks on the card.

"Now, this is from my perspective. But, maybe, with this as a guide, you might learn more than I can teach you with a couple hours of whoever you're sparring with trying to beat you up." I gave his shoulder a pat.

"It's... wow..." He had his eyes closed as he ran his fingertips over the card, "I can see..." He trailed off, losing himself in what felt (to me at least, when I tested the card myself) like watching through my eyes while someone with a shield was in view. "It's a little confusing..." He said, "And smells like cinnamon?"

"Don't try and take it all in at once. I did my best to make each part of the shield specific to a theme. Spears, swords, axes, claws, teeth, projectiles... Maybe you can ask your partner to help you sort through it."

"That's a good idea." Issei opened his eyes and looked at his left hand, "Well, we'll try at least." He said after a moment, "Thank you Sensei!"

"Spend a half hour pondering over that. Then take my place against them." I pointed to Kiba Xenovia and Irina, "You want this part of the card for swords."


"Huh."

"Ara ara..."

"It wasn't me."

All eyes turned to Issei.

He was in his balance breaker form, his entire body in the 'rook' configuration. Except, instead of his right hand being just a heavier version of his normal gauntlet, he had what looked like a weird looking cannon on the back of his arm. Like his shield, his wrist was locked in place by the new... growth(?) on his armour, but it still left his shoulder and elbow free. The cannon looked almost like one of those old ship cannons that you'd find on a pirate ship or something. The barrel looked to be able to fit a tennis ball, and there was a cable on the back end by his elbow, that led to the middle of his back, where his thrusters usually were.

The wall at far end of the room, where the opposing team might start had this been a mock rating game, was... gone. A black scorched nothingness that Azazel had said 'marked the end of the pocket dimension the room was in'.

"What did you even do, Issei-kun?" Xenovia asked.

"Well... um, it's a continuation on what I was trying yesterday. The Bishop promotion gives me a huge boost in magic power, so... I tried to come up with a proper shape for it? Something like that? Maybe?" He tried to reach up and scratch the back of his armoured head, but the cannon and shield make the motion look awkward, "I guess it worked?"

"You keep saying that you're not very good at this." Kiba leaned in to look at the cannon, "But this is quite exceptional..."

"Well done Issei." Rias smiled for him, "Yuuto is right, you really have come a long way. But how is the recoil? Your magic reserves?"

"Well... Sensei helped teach me about controlling my magic. This was just a practise shot." He gave us a thumbs up with his shield hand.

"Ara... no longer one and done?" Akeno stage whispered to Rias, "Maybe you can share him after all?"

I sighed, facepalming carefully, "Not in the dojo..."


That night, after I had done the preliminary set up with the pile of chemicals I'd had delivered, I returned to my room and got my 'evening personal care' done. The upcoming rating game was putting pressure on them. My upcoming duel was putting pressure on me. And the first solid idea on how to possibly get home was fast approaching.

I couldn't let these thoughts intrude however. Yasaka said that my abilities as a Kitsune were weak. As strong as I was, it was almost entirely my adventurer status. Yes, I'd pulled on the raw power of my kitsune nature, or fuelled kitsune abilities with 'raw magic' from my adventurer status, and it had seen me through a lot, but now, me and my 'nature' were no longer separate, and I had a whole new realm of magic to explore that was different than what I knew from Orario.

"Delly? Can you work with Mr. Skitters? I'm going to need more silk."

"Another project?" Delly asked as Mr. Skitters zipped up the side of his terrarium, hopped onto the island counter and saluted to me with a front leg. "At ease." She gave the fuzzy spot just behind his collection of eyes a pat.

"Always. Tomorrow night's project is going to be some work with Fenrir's body, and I'm going to need some good thread."

"And tonight's project?"

I sat on the floor, facing the window. Behind me my tails fanned out, and a sad little foxfire appeared near the tip of each one. "Self improvement. I might have eight tails, but the power I can draw from them, how Kunou and Yasaka do it, is not even one tail worth. Less than any of the masked kitsune at the shrine."

"We'll try and be quiet then." There was the sudden crunching of a cricket meeting Mr. Skitters for the last time, "Who's a good spider?"


October 6

The only really notable thing that happened on the work site was the completion of some of the smaller structures. Since this was a very small shrine, and I didn't feel the... instinct(?) to make it bigger, it didn't have some of the more traditional things that say, one in Kyoto would have. For example, we had a modest torii at the bottom of the steps, marking the 'beginning' of the sacred place. Kind of like saying 'this is the path to a sacred home'.

Next was the approach. The stairway leading up from the road. Usually, this would have smaller shrines along the ascent but Akeno said they weren't there when she moved in, so, she didn't place any. Normally, the fountain would be placed there too, but again, we had a small footprint, and the stairs had no landings between the road and shrine.

Next was the second torii, marking the shrine proper. Just behind that, were the fox guardians, all eight metric tons of them. Now, normally, the statues would be in their own little courtyard, and the entire perimeter would be walled off from the forest. But again, modest place. Instead, it was just a flat space and a knee high bamboo fence. Not much 'physical' protection, but even I could tell the difference from when we placed the first new post, to the last one, creating a barrier between the shrine and the forest around the grounds.

The Ema, or where you hung the wooden prayer tablets, was built, though it was really just a nice board of wood with little pegs. I did however have a small roof over it, just to keep rain off people's hopes and dreams while they hung on the board.

This left only the main building, and all its attachments. Since it was a modestly sized plot of land, the 'kagura-den' (dance hall for the sacred kagura dances) administration building (where the paperwork, and sleeping got done), and the small kitchen/bathroom area were all attached to the 'Haiden' (prayer hall) and the all important (Akeno's words) 'Honden'. Where the spirit was enshrined.

Where I was supposed to be 'inhabiting'. Basically, like Yasaka, it would be my 'seat of power', where I would have the most control over the land I was responsible for. The structure, and much of the roof was already done. All that was really left now were the inner walls and making the place 'look suitably fancy'. Oh, and cleaning up all the sawdust and mud people had been tracking around.


Poor Sona looked... Frazzled. It wasn't often I saw her with any other expression than 'serious', and those were usually times when her sister was involved. Today however, she looked a little out of sorts. To be expected, with the culture festival being tomorrow, and being the one in charge of overseeing just about everything that didn't need an adult (i.e. A teacher) to sign off on.

"I'm sure you'll be pleased to note, that this room is one hundred percent ready." I said as we stood in the middle of my big alchemy lab/apartment.

She looked around the room, probably noting the differences from the last time she was here. Obviously, the bed had been moved, the walls had been re-panelled to make it look suitably like an old science classroom instead of a converted apartment. The florescent fixtures had been covered with smoky glass to make the light gloomy, and instead of a full dozen alchemy sets, neatly separated on their own individual desks...

It was now just ONE alchemy kit. I'd arranged it so that there was a continuous path of convoluted and overly complicated looking glass tubes, beakers, retorts, alembics, condensers, and heating plates, all the way around the room. Some of it, I had styled from the Imp's lab, that I'd visited (and considered wrecking) down in the underworld, while the rest was just me being clever with the timing of how I wanted the chemicals to mix as they travelled along the glass.

"I must ask, Sensei. But how dangerous is this?"

"Unless someone touches a hot plate, throws themselves into the glass, or drinks something at random, it's all safe. No dangerous fumes, nothing corrosive. Though, this stuff will stain clothing for sure."

"And this?" She stood at the end of the glass monstrosity I'd put together.

It was a very special triangle bottomed beaker that had four spots where you could dribble fluid in. It was actually part of my crystal/gemstone creation setup too, where I'd grown the control crystal for my new armour, among other things.

"Just have who ever is watching the room put in a fresh one every hour." I tapped the cupboard where I had my spare beakers, "I figure, since the room will be in use, I'll get use out of it." I opened the cupboards under the beginning of the array, "And everything to keep the experiment running is here, clearly labelled, pre-measured, and ready to go."

She looked relieved and smiled what was probably her first smile in days, "Thank you Sensei, for being so well organized."

"And, since I came back a little early from the work site, the kitchen down stairs is basically ready for me to just turn stuff on and start cooking." I smiled, "You look like you could use a break."

She marked something down on her clip board, sighed a tiny reserved sigh, then nodded, "Yes. The rating game for us is the day after Rias-san's and Sairaorg-san's match."

"Do any of you want me to go over your equipment? I know I haven't been able to help you train, but I'll make time for that at least."

"Your attention would be welcome. I am confident we have trained as best we can, but there is always a shred of doubt."

I nodded, understanding her point of view, "I'll be at the shop tonight just after dinner. If anyone can stay an hour or so, I have a project on, and could use a few extra hands."

"I will ask for volunteers."


"Sensei... Why don't you just... I dunno, get a lawn mower or something?" Saji asked as he, and all of Sona's peerage (Sona included) used the sturdy iron wire brushes on the big squares of Fenrir's silver pelt. "You just need the fur to make yarn right?"

"I'm glad you brought that up." I nodded, carefully cleaning off my brush and putting the balled up fur into a bag, "I'm sure you've noticed that the fur is kind of ridiculous."

"It feels almost like wire, yeah, but its still springy like real fur." He commented, running his hand over the hanging square of fur, "Not my idea of a good blanket or anything, but not terrible."

"One of the reasons Rias's team couldn't hurt it is because of that. I tried cutting some with some scissors, and I might as well have been using safety scissors on a steel block. The fur chewed through the blades almost instantly."

"Oh... Well I suppose we are getting some fur out of it at least, and it's starting to feel softer as I go."

"Why not use that sword you made? The super sharp one?" Tomoe asked, "I mean... they were all recovered right?"

"They were." I nodded, "If you want to try, I'll go fetch one, but since it's not the proper tool for the job, I can't use it."

"The reason it is getting softer, is because you are removing any of the bristly undercoat, and smoothing the fur in general. Much like any animal with fur, us included, hair has a direction." Sona explained, "Though, I do agree, this will take far too much time unless we find the proper tool."

I went to one of the things Ajuka had left behind when he helped me and the other three devils cut up Fenrir's corpse. It was another safe, though this one was big enough to store many of the other, far more sensitive things from the body. Like the heart. It was basically a second freezer, though the wards on it were even more scary than the 'Sona Surprise' safe that I had. Aside from monster bits that were literal one of a kind items, I'd stored the weapons made from Fenrir's teeth in here too.

"Actually." I picked up the broken spear Loki had pulled out of his side, "This might work far better."

"Aww, but I want to try the lightsabre." Tomoe pouted.

"You can." I fetched that too, my original one that was recovered along with the others the Dark Elves had used. "Just be really really careful with it? Asia would be... disappointed if she had to heal your hand back on or something."

"Ooo, weaponized puppy eyes..." Tomoe accepted the weapon carefully, made sure she was pointing it away from anything important, and turned it on. It looked like a metre long rectangle of weirdly refractive glass, but that was just so you knew where the blade was. "Okay..."

I offered Tsubaki the spear wielding Queen of the peerage the broken shaft of the spear, "Don't cut yourself."

"Hey Boss! Running out of fluff!" Delly called from the spinning wheel we had off in the corner, "Gonna warn you now, this stuff is gonna be itchy."

"Depending on how resistant it is, I might have a treatment for that." I replied, gathering up what fluff I could from everyone's collection bag and bringing it over.

"Hm, I thought you said this was sharp?" Tomoe mumbled, "Oh wait... It was backwards." There was a sudden, sharp 'hmmmMMM-POP' "Owie!"

"Tomoe-chan? What happened?" Tsubasa asked.

I dropped the bag next to Delly and jogged back to them. Tomoe seemed unhurt really, the Sona Knight shaking her hand out like something had shocked her or something. The prototype lightsabre however, was smoking from the end, and I could smell burnt iron. "Feedback maybe." I said, picking up the scalding hot tube, "Fenrir's fur is highly magic resistant. So it must have shorted out the emitter..."

"Aww... I wanted to skip the brushing." Tomoe pouted, showing me her hand. A little red, no burns, "Just tingles a little, I'll be fine."

"Good. If you want to help Delly feed the wheel, you can skip brushing." I suggested. "How's the spear blade working for you?"

Tsubaki didn't reply for a moment, instead carefully getting the edge of the spear lined up with the surface of the hide, "I think..." With a sort of raspy tearing nose, she shaved off a respectable swath of fur, "It goes well."

"Excellent." I grinned, "Looks like you'll have your gloves after all, Sona."

"I am looking forward to winter already." She nodded.


October 7

I left my room with all my unused milk neatly bottled in glass on the ORC tea cart. I figured I'd use the oven they had set up in the 'spooky cafe' to make cookies, as well as warm up the kitchen itself so I knew where all the hot spots might be when I started taking orders. The set up in the kitchen was fairly big, with a deep fryer, oven, eight burners, and all the other things you might need in a kitchen. I had a big menu list in mind, and unless we had more than eight orders of '666 eggs and ham' I wouldn't have an issue.

I also noted that my door was covered in chains. Big heavy chains, warning signs, fake blood and the faint smell of wet dirt. This was one of the rooms people would not be entering, and the decorations made that clear.

I took a quick visit to my big alchemy lab to just turn it on, as well as putting a little post-it note on the big beaker on the end so that... I think it was Ruruko... would know when to change the bottle out for a fresh one. I hoped people would like the show as all the chemicals glowed bubbled blorped and fizzed through the glass.

The 'spooky cafe' had old wooden tables, creaky chairs (that were just creaky, not poorly made) dim lighting, glass lanterns, and all kinds of interesting sculptures that looked 'normal' but would cast the most wicked shadows as the lantern lights flickered.

With a little less than an hour until 'show time' I took a deep breath, focused myself, raised my hands over my head, then dropped them down quickly. With a series of little 'floof' noises, every lantern, every candle, and even a few random places around the room had a sad little foxfire ball hovering in/on/around them. Even while on vacation, and yes, this would be a 'day off' for me, I was training.

I wondered for a moment if Yasaka would give my ears a pat for having such control over my foxfire. Hmm, maybe I'd tell her later...

I shook my head, then wheeled the cart into the kitchen to get started.


Helping me for the lightest shift I had Gasper, Tomoe and Saji. They'd even gotten into costume too. Well, mostly. Saji was dressed as Dr. Frankenstein from that anime Soul Eater, and was working the register (yes the meals did cost money, but it all went to the school or local charity). Tomoe was dressed as a Miko (and looking good while doing it) and was taking the orders and delivering plates.

Gasper... Well, he was wearing the usual school outfit, but was also wearing the leather mask I'd made. Always with a brave face, but ONLY a brave face, he looked kind of creepy with the dim lightly. He still got all kinds of 'this girl is so cute!' looks, since no one had the heart to tell anyone otherwise.

"Here..." Gasper carefully put the plate of '666 eggs and ham' in front of a visiting teacher, "is your order sir."

He grunted a thank you, but gave Gasper a stern smile. Tomoe was sure to give Gasper a pat on the head, before greeting the next person to walk in.

"Wow. This is pretty slick."

I turned away from the burner and peeked out of the little window that I handed plates through, "Well, it's not terrible. Seems a huge waste of time though."

Vali and Bikou.

"Nyaa... Something smells good though!"

And Kuroka.

"Hmm, I hardly expected a western style cafe... Oh?"

"Cookies! Must mean only one thing!"

Arthur and Le Fey too.

"Table for five?" Tomoe's voice was a little strained, but after glancing back at me through the window and getting a nod, she continued, "This way please." I watched them all sit at one of the biggest tables and pick up menues, then just kept an ear out as I tended to the stove.

"Yup, there it is. Cookie, 100 yen." Bikou said, followed by what felt like someone poking my shoulder, "She did the lights too I think."

"Um..." Gasper started, his voice all shy, "If you prefer something more local, it's listed on the second page."

"Thank you." Arthur said smoothly, "Very helpful of you."

I looked over the burners, then went to get some fish from the fridge. A moment later, Gasper handed a slip of paper through the little plate window, and I got started.


I approached their table, plates in on my forearms and in my hands, noting that they were all dressed casual, with no weapons or weird clothing. Kuroka, like me, had her ears down, but not gone, and had hidden her tails as well. Le Fay still had her big not-floppy witch hat on, but otherwise, they just looked like normal people.

"Shallow Grave Sashimi and tea." I placed a plate in front of Kuroka. "Two orders of 666 eggs and ham, one scrambled, the other poached." Bikou and Vali. "Slice of peach pie." Also Bikou. "Dante's Inferno Curry." Arthur. "Witch's stew." Le Fay. "You're a little early for the lunch lineup, but that's okay."

A moment later Tomoe came out with a basket, "Toast, more toast, still more toast, milk, and a muffin."

"Not gonna wonder why you're here?" Bikou asked, "Oh, looking good by the way." He added, commenting on how I'd kept the ears, but hidden my tails.

"Because you're hungry?" I guessed, "I figure it's because of the weekend events, but honestly, it's not my job to care."

"Well, you are not wrong." Arthur nodded, his calm face slowly becoming a little red as he took a mouthful of curry, "I had wondered why I had to sign a wavier for this." He had some more without hesitation.

"Well, I'm here to visit my sister." Kuroka shrugged, "But I figured I'd tag along with Bik Bik for this too."

"Well, so long as you don't make too much noise, she'd love to see you." I nodded, knowing that yes, it was true, "And I'm sure if you asked nice, you'd be able to get seats for the event."

They nodded, but before they could respond a group of students as well as a few parents entered the room, "Let me help you get seated!" Tomoe swished over.

"Chat later." I turned, "Oh, and yes, cookies are 100 yen. Proceeds go to the local animal shelter."


Notes!

Well, are we all ready for the upcoming games/mischief? Hope so! ... Still need to read more...