Love Hina: Once Again
Chapter 40
"What? I can't even eat people?" the huge female Oni complained.
"Sorry," Kitsune said as she and the other Phantom Quest Corps members faced her.
They had been called out to the small, tourist town due to monster sightings. Someone large, or something, was frightening tourists trying to visit an old, abandoned shrine. For their usual fee, Kitsune agreed to investigate.
Rei Hino had charms at the ready as the black haired miko kept a wary eye out. The shrine itself was churning with mystical energy and restless spirits. In her opinion it was at LEAST as dangerous as the oni herself.
Motoko Aoyama was holding her sword at her side, ready but hopefully not provocative. The one was nearly eight feet tall, was was incredibly muscled. AND was carrying a spiked, metal wrapped war club that looked like it could squish someone flat.
"This had been my home for centuries," the oni added irritably.
"And no one's arguing that," Kitsune said as calmly as she could manage, "but human laws change. And you'll come to harm if you go after people."
"Oh really?" the oni said dangerously.
'Oh, please don't provoke her,' Motoko thought worriedly, getting ready to jump in if Kitsune needed saving.
"Uhm, Miss... what do we call you anyway?" Utena asked.
The oni frowned at her, "Ryo."
"Miss Ryo," Utena said. "The town wants to use the temple to draw in visitors. Why not help with that?"
"Eh?" Ryo asked.
"You could live up here openly," Kitsune said excitedly, "people would come out to see you. The town could even encourage folks to bring you tribute like food and such. You could just laze about instead of hunting."
"Seriously?" Ryo looked faintly intrigued.
"We'll have to talk to the town, but I don't see why not," Kitsune nodded.
Rei added quickly, "You'd have to promise not to hurt anyone."
Ryo nodded, frowning.
The group headed down the mountain, then visited the small town's city council, explaining what they found. The reactions were predictable.
"THERE'S A ACTUAL ONI UP THERE?!"
"Calm down, everyone, please," Tadamichi Kyousuke ordered. The mayor looked at Kitsune, "Seriously? A oni?"
"Yes sir," Kitsune said. She held up a digital camera, "My employee, Ema, got a few shots."
Ema Maeda, the young lady in back, had hung back in case something had gone badly wrong. And had gotten a few shots while waiting.
"She's HUGE," Kimidori Nagato noted, awed. The one photo was wide angled enough to really give a sense of how tall she was compaired to everyone else.
"Have you... dealt with her?" Hiroyuki Toshino asked, the older man frowning.
"We actually had an alternate proposal to make," Kitsune answered, and explained their idea.
"That's brilliant," Tadamichi blinked.
"If legally dangerous," Kimidori added. "We'd have to take steps to protect us from liability."
"As far as we know, this Ryo hasn't hurt anyone, correct?" Hiroyuki noted. "And you have to admit she'd be a hell of a tourist draw."
"I should point out," Kitsune added, "I am not going up there and killing an intelligent being that's just trying to survive and hasn't hurt anyone."
"I don't blame you," Tadamichi agreed. "We'll send someone up to talk to her, and try to work this plan out," he resolved.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, that was a thing," Utena sighed as the van trundled away.
"Thanks for coming along," Kitsune noted. "That was a really good idea."
"Hmm," Utena shrugged, sitting in the back with Motoko and Rei.
"I was wondering something," Ema said after a moment, "and it's perfectly okay if you don't want to say..."
"Would I have killed the oni," Motoko said.
"Yes," Ema said, "that."
"If she attacked us," Motoko shrugged, "or I thought our lives were actually in danger? Yes. Not in cold blood though."
"That," Utena nodded.
"Mind you, one of these days we're going to run into a sweet, personable monster that kills people," Kitsune sighed. "Though thankfully that's not today."
"Sealing it might be an option," Rei noted. "Though honestly I'm not sure I'd want to try it with someone THAT strong."
"Agreed," Motoko nodded.
(Rei Hino was, of course, secretly the magical girl Sailor Mars. If they had run into an entity of enough danger, she'd likely call in Sailor Moon and the others, secret identity be damned. Luckily that hadn't happened yet...)
Changing the subject Kitsune noted, "Anyone mind if we hit a grocery on the way home? Shinobu left us a shopping list."
Utena chuckled, "Grocery shopping sounds relaxing after that."
No one in the van commented that Utena had come along without her partner, Anthy...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Anthy Himemiya did not like fighting with Utena.
They had had an argument after Utena's aunt had left.
(Curse the woman and her damn tenacity! How could someone piece together so few clues and figure out where Utena was?! It was MOST annoying.)
In another part of Japan, Rin Asogi, the private investigator who actually found Utena, loudly sneezed.
"Getting a cold?" her partner Mimi asked.
"No, someone must be talking about me," Rin sighed and went back to work.
Back at the Hinata Inn...
Utena had asked pointed questions about why her Aunt couldn't find her, and Anthy had felt obligated to tell her. Part of it had been Akio Ohtori, who had wanted no one interfering when he had her in his clutches. Using some magic, and some political and economic leverage, he had hidden all the Ohtori students.
But after they escaped the academy, and his power was mostly broken, Anthy had taken steps to conceal them both.
And finding that out had made Utena rather upset.
Anthy sighed to herself. What Utena had not understood was that Akio had had allies out in the real world. Men and women who owed him, and who might be willing to carry out his last wishes. Like, say, avenging himself on the last Duelist.
A knock on her door startled Anthy from her brooding. "Yes?" she called.
Shinobu looked inside apologetically, "Sorry to bother you. Kitsune called, they're held up and won't be back until later tonight."
"Ah," Anthy nodded, "thank you for telling me."
Shinobu hesitated, "Uhm, are you and Utena fighting?"
Anthy fought back a flush, realizing the other residents probably heard a bit. "Sort of," she admitted, "she's not happy that I don't trust her Aunt's intentions."
"Really?" Shinobu asked, "Why?"
Anthy decided that some of the truth would work. "Utena inherited a... substantial amount of money from her parents," she said, "and her Aunt lost control over that when Utena turned eighteen. I think she tracked Utena down for her wealth."
"Oh, that's terrible," Shinobu murmured, frowning sadly.
Once again, Anthy was stuck by what a sweet little girl Shinobu was. "Well, hopefully I'm wrong," Anthy said.
Changing the subject Shinobu noted, "I'm going to serve dinner as usual, then put aside some for Kitsune and the others. You can come eat, or wait if you want."
"Thank you for cooking dinner," Anthy smiled, everyone having learned she was awful at it.
"You're welcome," Shinobu waved as she left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"She's after Utena's money?" Mutsumi frowned, helping Shinobu out in the kitchen.
"Shh! Don't tell anyone," Shinobu said.
"We should ask someone to look into this Chiho Tenjou," Mutsumi noted. "If she has money troubles, etc, it should be out there."
"I think Ami is fairly tech literate," Shinobu mused. "Maybe we could ask her after dinner."
"Sounds like a plan," Mutsumi agreed.
To be continued...
Notes: How powerful Anthy and Akio actually are is pretty unclear in canon for Revolutionary Girl Utena. Their backstory is very vague too.
Heroic Prince Dios tries to save the world, breaks himself trying. His sister Anthy tries to protect him, gets wounded badly. The two things end Dios, causing him to fall from grace and he loses his powers and becomes Akio.
My own headcanon is that this all happened WAY back in prehistory when the fall of the Moon Kingdom happened in Sailor Moon. (Both series shared directors.) Dios basically fell facing Beryl's armies and demons attacking on Earth...