"What... what do you mean?"

Was the first thing that Shirai cried out.

The old man kept his gaze on the two (more specifically on Shirai). His eyes never changed expression.

"You will be the one to save our kingdom." The old man said.

As Mikoto and Shirai heard this, it felt like time stopped for a moment. Not only did they not know who the old man was, but also this stranger was declaring something big.

"Umm... we don't know what you're talking about." Shirai said, still confused of the old man's declaration.

"How about I tell you a story?" The old man suggested. He turned around and looked at the younger boy of 10 years of age still holding the pail that contained at least 5 fish.

"Kotarou, please prepare a campfire."

"Got it."

Mikoto and Shirai noticed that Kotarou's voice was sour. Something within his voice sounded reluctant when he saw them. They also noticed that ever since the old man talked to them, he had already put up a bitter expression.

They looked at each other in wonder: at the old man and the boy with him. Hoping the old man will give them enough information of their enemy, they walked towards the nearest tent.

Ajime Kyouko walked towards the direction of 177th Judgment Branch office.

She recalled what happened in the dormitory earlier. To respect Mikoto's privacy, she did not read the contents of the letter (even if she wanted to out of curiosity).

This was similar to when Mikoto was always out late at night. Kyouko did not know what kind of burden her roommate was carrying, but she could only support her indirectly.

Except this time, she partially knew what was happening around her: youkai invading Academy City just for a single fugitive who was hiding from them for weeks just for a false accusation.

As far as she remembered yesterday, Mikoto received no letters from anyone, not even her admirers. She also remembered no one asked her a favor to give a letter for her roommate, so it was not an option it was from someone she knew from Tokiwadai.

If that letter was from one of her friends, they could have just given her a message.

Thinking deep down, Kyouko remembered that Mikoto always had a youkai accompanying her. Since no one can see or hear that youkai apart from Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko could have just told her companion without anyone else hearing what she was saying.

But, she was not the one to judge what exactly happened or who wrote the letter that made Mikoto leave the room so suddenly.

Still, she wished for Mikoto and the youkai to have good luck.

She arrived at the office and opened the door. While Kyouko closed the door with a soft click, she scanned her eyes around the room and saw Uiharu busily typing on her desktop.

"Uiharu-san?"

Uiharu Kazari turned her chair around and saw Kyouko walking towards her. "Good morning, Ajime-san."

"Good morning. What's for today's duty?"

Uiharu spun the chair back and typed on the keyboard. "Umm... Nothing unusual. Also, there haven't been cases about possession lately."

Kyouko widened her eyes as soon as she heard about it. "Really? What happened?"

"I don't know, but the number of cases have decreased to 2 compared to before."

"That's... surprising."

Perhaps it wasn't just a coincidence that the rate of possessions decreased and that Mikoto was angry at something in the letter.

'It feels like what happened this morning and the current state of the case are connected...'

Kyouko couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a hunch.

She remembered what Shirai had told everyone a few days ago. They received important details about what they were dealing with and how there was a world other than the one that humans currently live in. If the youkai lived in a different world, then they had means of crossing into the human world.

'If that was the case, then the letter was from Shirai Kuroko. Misaka-san must have left the dormitory because the letter must have been a farewell letter since the youkai was going to return to her world, and thus the other youkai who came here returned when someone had told them the fugitive is back in their world.'

"But, why was the letter delivered instead?"

Uiharu turned her head towards Kyouko. "...Ajime-san?"

"Ah, no, nothing! I was just thinking something!" Kyouko jerked up and quickly diverted her thoughts to another topic. "Oh yeah, last night you told me that you were supposed to be with Saten-san today, right?"

Uiharu sighed at the mention of their upbeat friend. "Saten-san is currently with Haruue-san. I'm more worried about Haruue-san, though."

"Well, Saten-san won't give up anytime an urban legend is involved... Now that I think about it, since we can worry less about the case, what should we do?"

"...How about tea?"

"It still haven't detected a single youkai!"

Saten Ruiko yelled in annoyance as she looked at the screen of the device she had been holding.

She and Haruue Erii were walking on the streets after they searched a lot of places. They searched from their own school, to a dark alleyway, to game center, to random local shops and even a garbage chute.

"Saten-san... we might as well stop this..." Haruue said wearily, embarrassed and tired as she walked behind Saten.

"No! I won't until this detector detects one!"

Haruue was not sure if she was going to be worried or react differently to the other's antics. She did not have any interest in Academy City's urban legends and wondered why was it created in a scientific city.

Shortly after, they reached the park. Saten her legs felt heavy and hurt with each passing step. She noticed an unoccupied bench and quickly secured it, Haruue soon followed her.

"Man, it's barely afternoon and I'm really tired!" Saten stretched her arms upward as she leaned her back in the bench.

"Is looking for spirits really interesting?" Haruue asked, looking at Saten curiously.

"Of course! For someone like me who doesn't have any ability, it's my hobby!" Saten replied with enthusiasm as she sharply turned to Haruue.

"But, isn't that dangerous?"

"Not all urban legends are dangerous. Some are weird and some are fun!"

"Like when you almost got caught by the delinquents when you were searching for cash cards?"

"..."

Saten felt like a 10 metric ton anvil dropped on her head as she remembered how she was chased by thugs because of her passion.

"W-Well! This time it won't happen the same again! We can ask Misaka-san if-

Saten abruptly stopped as soon as she mentioned a certain person's name.

"Saten-san?"

The long haired girl immediately grabbed her phone from her pocket, tapping several times before she reached the call button on Mikoto's phone number.

Saten placed her phone beside her ear as she received several ringing tones. Soon, she heard a different tone, like someone had lifted the landline.

"Ah, Misaka-sa-

The number you dialed cannot be reached. Please try again.

Saten slowly removed the phone and looked at the screen, displaying her background of choice.

Mikoto, Shirai, Kotarou and the old man circled around the campfire. As they waited for the fire to be hot enough to cook the fish, they stabbed sticks into the fish from the tail to the gaping mouth.

The old man looked up at the dark sky, with grief in his eyes. "This incident started when the 8th emperor ruled the kingdom, Konoe."

Mikoto and Shirai perked up in interest as they listened attentively.

"He was a great leader. He helped so many youkai and would leave his palace often in order to help the common citizen. You could say he was passionate about keeping the kingdom safe and peaceful.

"Then one day, he started to feel dissatisfied with his actions of helping everyone. Realizing his desires, he sought to conquer lesser kingdoms for power, and so he started to train and create the strongest soldiers so that his enemies would quickly surrender."

"If that happened, then there should have been surviving soldiers until now, right?" Shirai inquired.

"But it was stopped," the old man answered, "Inari-sama did not like his decision."

"Then, what happened to him?"

"Inari-sama punished him. She stripped him of his status and sent him to Yomi. He was replaced by his daughter."

Shirai looked down in sorrow. "Who was my mother..."

"Yes." The old man nodded. "She was able to lead the kingdom for a few decades, until she married a commoner named Shirai Gen'ou. Inari-sama had the ability to turn a commer to a kitsune. A few years later the empress retired from her position and let her husband take the position since she was pregnant with you." He said as he looked at the downcast Shirai.

He added, "But decades later, your mother was killed by none other than... Gen'ou."

Shirai felt her heartbeat stop for an instant and felt a cold pit in her stomach as she realized who the true culprit was.

Mikoto was surprised about it as well - for a different reason. If they lived a life so comfortable, there should be no reason for a spouse to hurt each other, much less resorting to violent crime such as murder.

The old man continued, as if they were waiting for the truth of a certain case. "30 years ago, Gen'ou had the feeling that someone else was living within him, like he had a personality disorder; Until one time he lost control of himself. That "someone" took over his body and started to go berserk until he saw that woman; he killed her by a severe impalement with his hands. It was too late when Gen'ou regained control of himself."

"W-Why did my father keep it from me..." Shirai whispered, enough for the other three to hear her. That event was horrible to even recall, but what made it worse was that the true culprit was someone from her family.

"He wanted to protect you." The old man answered calmly. "I was his close friend at the time. We met each other when I was having difficulty carrying the vegetables back to my house since Kotarou had other errands to do."

"Though," Kotarou interjected, "you could have told me."

"I would have, if I did not forget about it."

"You really don't have to push yourself..." Kotarou muttered, disheartened.

"It's fine." The old man said. "As I was saying, I was really lucky to meet Gen'ou for the first time..."

"Don't you have someone to help you?" Gen'ou asked worriedly, deeply concernedforthe old man.

They were bothwalking in the broad sunlight in a small village.

Around them were adult youkai walking slowly. Child youkai were running about with their fellow friends as they play together.

"My grandson had errands to do; but I forgot to tell him about this. His parents were out for work." The old man replied.

"You could have waited for them." Gen'ou suggested.

"If I did, the vegetables would wither. After all, I'm still a strong old man."

The old man stretched his back, which caused to sound several pops from his spine.

Gen'ou sweatdropped. "I don't think Iwouldtake it asbeingstrong..." He muttered, chuckling.

"I heard that, your majesty."

"...! S-Sorry."

The old man laughed at Gen'ou's quick apology. "You don't have to. I've been around for a few centuries and a lot of youkai still comment on my strength."

They arrived at the his house. He slid the front door and entered, with Gen'ou following andplacingdown a basket of vegetables on the floor.

"Thank you very much, your majesty."

Gen'ou placed a hand at the back of his head and grinned. "It's my pleasure as the emperor of the kingdom. And please call me Gen'ou. I don't want to feel I'm above all others."

"Gen'ou-sama would be a better preference." The old man commented.

Gen'ou felt a shiver ran down his spine as he heard a more honorable suffix. "Please, not that. Formality is not my style."

"From someone who was a commoner before leading a kingdom, I understand. How do you feel about it, when you're also raising an heiress?"

"It wasn't easy. She gets too stubborn in doing things she can't handle on her own; scoldingdoesn'thelp either. As forruling, sometimes it's stressful, sometimes it's interesting. My thoughts about it are too mixed."

"Are you happy?"

"...Yes?"

"Are you happy that of all the youkai living in this kingdom, you were given the responsibility to lead it? A lot of commoner were jealous of you during the coronation."

"Well, I'm really happy about it. If I remember correctly, there used to be a commoner whoalsobecame the emperor, correct?"

"Yes, but he had the shortest span, for only about 30 years."

"That's pretty short." Gen'ou said deadpanned. "Oh yeah, I need to go now. I have to get back to the palace for a meeting."

"Best regards to you. Thank you for helping me... Gen'ou."

"Ehh~ what a great father and emperor." Mikoto commented as she admired Shirai's father's act.

However, that complement did not make Shirai feel any better. In fact, it made her feel worse. She was still shocked at how her own father could kill his wife so easily. She remembered they did not have any problems when they were still together.

But what was the reason he killed her?

The old man continued his story, "As days passed, I started to see him often. Usually picking out fruits, helping his fellow youkai, and the like.

"Until there was the time that a murderer went on a killing spree. There were no witnesses as the crimes would always happen at night. A few months later, Gen'ou trusted me enough to tell me it was his fault for all the murders that were happening: also confessing for the murder of his wife. He also told me something grave..."

The old man saw Gen'ou sitting at the river. He went to the kitsune emperor's side and sat beside him.

"Am I... bad?" was the first thing that Gen'ou spoke.

"I don't think so." The old man replied as he looked beyond the horizon. "You are a great emperor whohasled the kingdom for the better. Why do you ask?"

It took Gen'ou for a moment to reply, "Actually, I have something to tell you. We've been seeing each other for some time, so I guess I can entrustyou with this."

"Go on."

The emperor hung his head as he forced himself to tell his thoughts. "Konoe... has returned."

The old man's heart sank as he heard a terrible news. "Are you sure about that? Once a youkaihasbeen punished andbanishedtoYomi, they remain there forever! That place is guarded by Izanami to make sure no one gets out!"

"That'strue..." Gen'ou said softly as he raised his head up, looking at the horizon. "He... he's inside me. I don't know how he escaped, but I saw him one time while I was in the forest, looking for fruits. His only form was an enigma that I couldn't depict; and he entered within me."

"I fear for the worst." The old man said, his voice frail as he shook his head. "Is there any way for you to extract him?"

"I wish. But the moment he entered my body, it felt like I was whole.Itdid not feel weird or conflict within me. I couldn't feel his presence."

"If that's the case, then..."

Gen'ou nodded without even thinking about what he was going to say. "Yeah. I must be killed, no matter what."

There was a mutual silence between them as Gen'ou declaredwhatshould have been his fear. His voice did not even falter. It's as if it was something he could accept easily.

"To everyone's' eyes, they'll immediately accuse me as the murderer. But to me, it was that wicked emperor who only wants his title back."

The old man couldn't react at how serious Gen'ou became when he described Konoe's way of regaining his rights.

"What was his reason?" He inquired.

"I've been encountering dreams about it, but the only thing Iremember ishewantsInari-sama to show up and take back what must be his. After all, he couldn't completely control my body. He can only control my body when I'm asleep.

"Then I realized that Konoe killed my wife... just to call out Inari-sama. I had tocover it upby saying it was an accident. I tried my best to make her not look like an idiot, but still..."

The old man was troubled. He believed that Yomi was asecureplace that no one can leavein orderto punish those who were destroying the peace and order of their world forever. Konoe could not just leave freely without the aid of someone who had the power to enter that gloomy place (as normal youkai would not be able to handle the strong emotion entering them).

"Have you told your daughter about this?" He asked.

Gen'ou's heart sank as if he regretted that he lied to her. "No... I want to protect her, from myself. And, I don't think it's the right time... yet."

"Umm... I have a question..."

The old man looked at Mikoto.

"Why didn't Inari... sama show up at all when that Konoe guy was busy murdering youkai?"

"In this world, just like yours, the gods in the heavens don't show up for any reason at all. They, perhaps, are testing our strength to survive. Perhaps, our will to go on could be tested." The old man said as he looked at Shirai, who was still not looking up and settled to listen to how this incident started - from just one greedy emperor.

He added, "Also, there's a reason why this kingdom is the third smallest. The fifth empress, in turn that Inari-sama had agreed, did not find any benefit in expanding the kingdom. I do not know the full details of the agreement as I have only read it somewhere. That's why any ruler of the kingdom who opposed to that agreement shall be punished by Inari-sama herself."

Kotarou, who was silent throughout the story telling after he scolded his grandfather, looked down at the campfire to check on the fish.

He was not amused.

"With all the talk we had, our food turned into a charcoal."

"..."

The other three looked at the fire at the middle and saw four burnt fish around it. The tail part crumbled into pieces and fell to the ground.

"Seriously, if you two didn't arrive we wouldn't have to waste our catch." Kotarou huffed in annoyance.

"Hey! It's not our fault that we came here!" Mikoto retorted in defense.

Both human and youkai continued bickering as the old man calmly stood up and went to the tent, grabbing a wooden cane. He went back from the campfire and slammed the cane onto Kotarou and Mikotos' heads in quick succession.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

They winced as they held the top of their heads with both of their hands in pain.

"Your bickering only caused us to waste more time." The old man scolded calmly.

Mikoto slightly recovered from the pain, rubbing her sore head and looked at the old man. "To make things short, where is the palace?"

"The heiress will accompany you to that place." The old man replied. "Please excuse Kotarou's distrust. He's having a hard time right now."

"Grandpa!" Kotarou yelled. "You don't have to tell them!"

"What if they attacked these two and killed without meaning to?"

"...They?" Mikoto repeated.

"Kotarou's parents." The old man replied sadly. "They were caught up by Konoe's wickedness. Now they are acting against their own will."

"..."

Another reason to avoid the youkai, Mikoto thought. Dealing with the monkey youkai was enough of a problem for them as he could make a loud noise and attract his fellow youkai and attack them from a far distance.

They could deal with them later, at least until the source of everything was dealt with.

Mikoto felt a hand held on hers and looked at Shirai, who was now wearing a determined expression.

"Let's go, Onee-sama."

"...Kuroko?"

"We just can't sit here waiting for another youkai to attack us. The sooner we go to the palace, the sooner we can finish this."

"...Yeah." Mikoto nodded and looked around the vicinity. "Looks like the monkey youkai won't be seeing us soon."

"What's with that name calling?"

Mikoto and Shirai turned to look at Koutarou, who was giving them an annoyed expression.

"Humans are really this disrespectful. Calling the heiress by her name, don't you know that you can't call the noble unless they- OW!"

The old man lifted his cane from Kotarou's head and said, "Their name calling is none of your business. You don't know what kind of journey they went through."

Kotarou placed his hand on his sore spot, rubbing it. "Sorry." He apologized.

Shirai stood up from her position. "Well then, it's time for us to go."

"Good luck with your journey to stop Konoe once and for all." The old man said. "Inari-sama's power is always within you."

Mikoto and Shirai arrived at the palace in silence.

It was a two storey traditional Japanese manor mostly made from wood. Normally for the manor where the leader of the kingdom lived, guards were assigned to alert of a visitor or to prevent the assassination of the leader. In minimum, the leader assigns six to twelve guards.

They went inside and found it was very dark. It was very hard for them to see what was inside or if it was disordered. But since this didn't matter for their current objective, Shirai sprinted to the room at the left, with Mikoto following the sounds of her footsteps.

As they entered the room, Shirai took a sharp turn to the right and went up the stairs.

Loud thumps reverberated within the house as Shirai and Mikoto sprinted towards the door to the throne room. Shirai slid the door and went in only to realize that she did not feel any presence or notice anyone else sitting on the chair at the middle of the room. It was as if someone set a trap against them that could be activated anytime.

"...No one's here."

Shirai said sharply, looking around the room for anything in every nook and cranny. Sadly, she didn't find any as the room was still the same the last time she saw it.

Suddenly, four candles around the corners of the room lit in a small flame, illuminating the whole vicinity.

"You think that no one else was in this room? Too bad, I got here before you. Saru was taking a long time searching for you, so I told them to hold on and I went back here."

A cold, deep voice penetrated Shirai and Mikoto's ears as shivers went down their spines. The door on the other side of the throne room across from them opened slowly as it revealed Gen'ou's form. Shirai was surprised to see a distinct change in her father's appearance. His white tails were now black. His sclera became black and the cornea of his eyes became golden as opposed to the white sclera and gentle auburn eyes.

"So, this is... Gen... no, Konoe..." Mikoto muttered, facing towards the mastermind of the incident.

"Ohh~ So you're the human that Tora and Kamakiri were talking about. A human who had a power similar to Raijin. You must be pretty strong to get this far protecting the heiress, even if you didn't know what was happening." Konoe said playfully.

His attention shifted to Shirai as he looked at her. "Forget my soldiers calling you a traitor, it's only a cover for my true intentions. I need you to call Inari!"

The atmosphere suddenly felt thick as Konoe yelled his last statement.

"If Inari can't be bothered by a murderer using the emperor's body, I guess killing the next ruler of the kingdom will make her appear and grant my wish."

All for just a single wish. It was too much preparation just to call a god. It had taken more than a decade for his plan to come into fruition.

Both Mikoto and Shirai knew what his wish was; to get his body back and rule the kingdom once again so he could expand the land. According to the old man, he was the first to do such a feat after the agreement was made.

"Is your wish really worth granting?" Mikoto asked, her voice shaking in anger.

"What do you know, human? Change is needed! This kingdom can't just remain the third smallest forever! We need to expand to stop the larger kingdoms looking us down!"

Konoe bent forward, clenching his right fist as it ignited into black flames, and leapt towards Mikoto and Shirai, who only sprinted away from him. He landed on the wooden floor and looked behind him to see Shirai sinking into her battle stance and Mikoto's body started to emit electricity.

Shirai pushed her feet forward towards Konoe and thrust her palm at his chest, but he blocked it by raising his right arm against the palm. Using this opportunity, Shirai twisted her body and held Konoe's arm as she raised her right leg, aiming the heel at his cheek.

But, Konoe was able to see through the continued attack and used his left hand to stop the leg, throwing her off balance as her left foot trembled. Shirai reacted quickly and quickly stomped her right foot onto the floor before she could fall.

Mikoto launched a lightning spear at Konoe, but Konoe avoided the attack by leaning slightly to the side. Regaining his composure, Konoe charged at Mikoto with lightning speed.

Konoe was faster than Mikoto's reaction time. He slid his right foot a few millimeters away from her. Using the momentum he gained from his foot, he used his other foot and twisted his body; with his left foot ready, he kicked Mikoto before she could even react to his attack with force, sending her flying and hit the wall.

"Onee-sama!"

Konoe turned to look at Shirai, who only spreaded her nine tails, conjured violet flames from each tip and hurled it at him. He countered it with his flame. Both flames came into contact and exploded mid-air.

He approached her slowly. Shirai kept her battle stance up as she prepared herself for his next move.

But when he was finally in front of her, he only grabbed the collar of her yukata.

"W-What are you..."

Before Shirai could even finish her sentence, he pulled the collar and threw her further from Mikoto's range.

Mikoto's body trembled from the impact she received from Konoe's kick. She was at a great disadvantage as there was nothing magnetic around the room.

She slowly stood up, and looked at Konoe who was approaching her. Placing her hand in her pocket, she thought of using her signature attack in order to - at least - damage him.

But after discovering that her pockets were empty, she realized that she didn't bring any arcade coins on their way to this world. Since no one would attack her when she was sleeping in her dorm, it was not necessary to put coins in nightwear. If by some fluke someone did try to attack her at while she was in her dorm, the terrifying entity known as the Dorm Manager would take care of it.

Konoe was soon in front of Mikoto. He ignited his hand with black flame, clenched his fist, and thrusted his fist at her.

Mikoto leap to the side as the fist connected to the wall of the room.

Still recovering, Mikoto electrified her hand and fired a lightning spear at Konoe, who simply dodged the attack.

Konoe stiffened his legs and charged at current his target. He readied his ignited fist and prepared to perform an uppercut. With the right momentum, he slammed his left foot forward and thrust his arm upward at Mikoto, aiming for her jaw.

Seeing through the attack, Mikoto turns her head to the side, avoiding his attack by an inch. Using this close contact, she uses this opportunity to generate electricity on her hand and place it on Konoe's chest, releasing a large voltage of electricity.

"...G-Guuaaaahhh!"

Electricity ran through his chest and spread throughout his body, immobilizing his movement.

Shirai slowly stood up as she recovered from her throbbing back pain. She looked for Mikoto and saw her back away from Konoe, who was still spasming from the shock he received.

But Shirai knew that Konoe would not be felled by such an attack (even though it could potentially kill any full sized man).

Konoe spread his arms outward, dispersing the electricity, that was torturing him, away from his body.

"You think such flimsy attacks would injure me at all?" Konoe taunted as he sank back into his battle stance.

Mikoto gritted her teeth.

'So not even a surge of high voltage electricity can incapacitate him?' She thought grimly as sweat dripped from her temple.

Konoe grinned evilly as he turned his body into black flames.

The flames of a kitsune allow the caster to change the properties of things.

It could make something sharper without modifying the physical object, could handle an attack that would hurt them, or even could cast illusions.

Out of instinct, Mikoto launched an electric spear from her forehead, directed at the burning form of Konoe, but it only went past him.

"...Kh!"

As the distance between them decreased, Mikoto stepped backward to get ready to dodge, but it was too late as Konoe had returned back to his normal form and thrusted his burning hand at Mikoto's chest.

Shirai reacted immediately by reaching for Mikoto in order to push her out of the way.

But it was too late as Konoe had already impaled his igniting hand into Mikoto's chest.

It felt like time had stopped within the room as Shirai froze on the spot, horrified at what she saw Konoe just do.

Mikoto felt light and started to lose perception of her surroundings. And soon, it all faded to black.

A/N: Sorry for the late release! School's up and I have to do all the homework that the professors dump us. Sigh.

Because I love my readers and followers, this story is still my priority even when I have a lot of homework to do.

Mikoto's plot armor? Nope. It's no fun when only the antagonist dies.

What I have been up to? During the final days of May, I made friends with some Japanese people in pixiv. I took the opportunity to comment so I could practice my unused Japanese skills. Not that I'm bragging.

So, If you're interested, look for aizmayune on Twitter and leave a follow.

Credits to werewolf2005 for having the patience to beta read and also the patience to wait for me to send the rewrite.