Chapter Twelve
"I can't believe we've only known each other for a month, Korin-nee-chan," Hanako says to me as she, Xander and I walk through the forest. "It feels like we've known each other for years." I nod with a smile.
"Yeah, it does. Can you believe that Xander and I have only lived here for seven weeks?" Hanako stares at us with her mouth open.
"You'd only been here for three weeks when you saved me? I thought you'd moved in a couple of years ago! It definitely seems like it, from how close you and that onmyoji girl are." Hanako shudders when she mentions Megumi.
"I don't think Xander had even spoken to anyone apart from the Akiyamas by the time you two first met." Hanako frowns at Xander.
"Why not?" Xander shrugs.
"There wasn't anyone I wanted to talk to. I don't like the Akiyamas. Satoshi's a creepy flirt like Jase and Takeshi's really scary and Megumi's too loud."
Hanako nods, "Agreed. That girl needs to calm down and step away from the fizzy drinks." I laugh, and so does someone else. The three of us look behind us. Xander screams and practically leaps into Hanako's arms. He buries his face in her neck and she smiles and wraps her arms around him.
"Hey, Yuki-san," I say. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while."
Yuki smiles at me, "I'm doing great, Korin-chan. I heard about what happened on your orienteering trip. I'm impressed that you handled the situation so well."
I smile at her. "Thanks. How are Mariko and the others doing?"
"Why don't you see for yourself? Mariko, Bunko and Satsuki aren't far away. Come on, I'll take you to them." she says. I tilt my head in confusion.
"Who's Satsuki?" I ask.
"A Bake-Neko who really needs to mature a little. She's over a thousand years old, and yet she acts like a teenager." I laugh a little.
"This is Xander, by the way," I say to Yuki as I point at Xander, still cowering in Hanako's arms. "He's my little brother." Yuki crouches down in front of him.
"Hey, Xander-kun. I'm Yuki," Xander's lips flicker into a momentary smile. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I won't hurt you."
"He was like this the first time he spoke to Hanako, too." I say apologetically, shaking my head slightly.
"It's fine. I'm sure he hasn't met many Yokai before. It's only natural to fear the unknown."
"H-hello, Yuki-san." Xander says, his voice shrinking to almost nothing and being swallowed by the wind whistling through the trees.
Yuki smiles kindly at Xander, "Let's head towards the others now. Satsuki's been begging to meet you since her last conversation with Kirin-sama." I smile, embarrassed by the fame I seem to have earned amongst the Yokai.
"Sure. Let's go, guys!" I grab Xander's hand in my left and place my right on Hanako's head. The four of us walk off back the way we came, with Yuki leading.
It takes about a minute to reach Mariko, Bunko and another girl, with dark brown hair coiled around her shoulders and feline ears protruding from the top of her head. Her tail flicks from side to side as she chats and laughs with Mariko and Bunko.
"I'm back, guys," Yuki says, and the three girls look up from whatever it is they're doing. "I brought company, too."
"Hey, Korin-chan, Hanako-chan!" Mariko says cheerfully. She looks at Xander. "You must be Xander. It's not like I've been stalking your sister or anything." Yuki, Mariko, Bunko and I all laugh.
The girl with cat ears, I recognise her now as the Bake-Neko that the boy who used to have my room photographed frequently, looks curiously at me. "Are you Belododia Korin?" she asks. I nod. "So cool. Kirin-sama said that it'd be dead without you. You pretty much saved the entire forest without even realising. Bruh, that's legit." Mariko scribbles on the paper in front of her and holds the sheet up behind the Bake-Neko's head. It reads, in English, Stoner alert! I bite my lip to hide my amusement.
"Korin-chan, this is Satsuki-chan. She's one of the elders, however young she may seem." Yuki says. To be honest, I wouldn't have guessed that Satsuki was that old if Yuki hadn't told me. Without the cat ears and tail, she just looks like a regular 21st century teenager, complete with sweatpants and a baggy tshirt. She seems to act like one, too. I highly doubt there are many other Yokai, however old, who would use the word 'bruh' and say that something is 'legit'. In fact, I've never even heard the words used in real life before.
"Growing old is mandatory, but I'm never going to grow up. Seriously. You should get out more, Yuki-chan." Satsuki says with a cheerful smile, flicking her tail from side to side. I feel curiosity rising within me, and I wonder how she manages to keep her tail out of her sweatpants without them falling down or low riding. My confusion obviously shows on my (entirely tactless) face, because Satsuki grins at me. "I cut a hole in the back of them and stuck my tail through it. It's so much more comfortable than a skirt." I laugh at the carefree way she says it, as though she honestly doesn't care if I judge her for it. She grins at me.
I sit down beside Mariko, "So what are the updates on how Kirin's doing?" I ask. Mariko, Bunko and Satsuki all turn to look at Yuki. I follow their line of sight.
"Kirin-sama is recovering well. One of the less… Homicidal… Kijos has begun mixing some poultices to aid the recovery." I nod, smiling, and turn back to Bunko.
"So hey, Bunko-san, I heard you're clever. Like, really clever," I take my pen and copy of our set text from school out of my pocket, alongside a sheet of extremely crumpled paper. "Would you mind helping me find some quotes? It's for my homework." Bunko frowns at me and purses her lips.
"It's not a quote, it's a quotation. To quote- verb. A quotation is a phrase or sentence with some sort of meaning. You want me to find some quotations for you." she says. Mariko grimaces and Satsuki facepalms. Xander just stares at her, dumbfounded. I have the nerve to giggle, even while knowing full well that Bunko could easily kill me with a click of her fingers.
"Yeah, pretty much. I just need, like, five quotes," I put emphasis on the word, "About anthropomorphic descriptions." Bunko sucks in air through her teeth. Mariko snorts into her hand and Satsuki grins from ear to ear. There is a cracking sound and the air temperature drops suddenly. I look around in shock and see that the ground beneath Bunko is beginning to freeze, and the frost is spreading further and further away from her. Yuki frowns at me and Xander scrambles away in a panic. Hanako runs after him, grabs his shoulder and hugs him tight. Satsuki raises her right hand to her mouth and blows between her index and middle fingers. A short stream of fire shoots out of her mouth melts the ice. Satsuki waves her hands and the flames die instantaneously. My eyes widen in surprise. To be honest, I don't know much about Bake-Nekos, and I certainly didn't know that they were capable of spitting fire.
"You shouldn't be impressed, Korin-chan," Satsuki says cheerfully, "That was nothing."
Mariko shudders, "Seriously, Korin-chan, try not to annoy anyone too much. When you hang out with us, you're putting yourself at risk. None of us would ever do anything to hurt you intentionally, but some of our powers are volatile. If it had just been you and Bunko-chan, you would be slowly turning into an ice sculpture, and Bunko wouldn't be able to reverse it." She sounds so genuinely concerned for my safety and well being that I almost cry. Xander whimpers into Hanako's chest. Hanako frowns at Mariko, Bunko and Satsuki, probably because they're scaring Xander so much.
"Sorry." I say softly to Bunko. She nods with a slight frown. She snatches my homework out of my hand and begins flicking through the book, scribbling things down every so often.
"Typical Bunko-chan." Satsuki says, rolling her eyes. She makes eye contact with Hanako. "I heard that an onmyoji got hold of your 3DS. Did you get it back yet?" Hanako shakes her head sadly.
"We're still working on that." I say. Satsuki nods.
"I would let you borrow mine, Hanako-chan, but I've just restarted Fire Emblem: Awakening and I've kind of been devoting my life to it."
"She's not kidding!" Mariko exclaims, "Seriously, the other day a group of us disguised ourselves as humans and went into town, but Satsuki-chan didn't come with us because she was playing FEA." I smile.
"I understand. When I was in Lubeck, I was the most unpopular person in the class because I left a house party early- at, like, half past seven- because there was a new anime starting that I was having streamed to my laptop." I say, and Satsuki laughs.
"That is exactly the sort of thing I would do!" she exclaims, and we grin at each other.
Yuki groans, "Why did I introduce you two to each other?" she asks, and Mariko shakes her head.
"Because you knew that they would get along, and, deep down, you care about them both." Bunko says, not even looking up from my homework. Hanako giggles.
"Of course she cares about Korin-nee-chan. Everyone likes Korin-nee-chan." she says. I smile and blush at the compliment.
"That's not true, Korey had literally no friends in Vienna." Xander says quietly with a giggle, his voice trembling slightly.
I clench my fists, "Oh my gods! Why does everyone keep bringing that up? Seriously! Shut up about Vienna already!"
"I'm not sure if I should ask or not…"
"Don't ask, Mariko-chan."
"I'm asking."
"And I'm not telling," I say, and Mariko turns slightly and makes eye contact with Xander. I glance at him and see that he's grinning wickedly. "And you're not telling anyone either, Xander!" Xander's grin widens.
"So basically-"
"Alexander James Belododia, if you say another word I will tell Dad that you were the one who cut the string in Ezra's piano last year." I threaten loudly. Xander tenses and shuts his mouth instantly. Mariko gasps.
"Why would you do that?" she asks, "Ezra-kun's such a cutie!" I raise my eyebrows at her.
"Have you been stalking the rest of my family as well as me?" I ask. She shrugs.
"I couldn't help but notice that your older brother is an annoying moron, but your twin is beautiful. Seriously."
"Ezra snores really loudly." Xander reveals, his nose crinkled. It's clear that he either doesn't like Mariko or doesn't want Ezra to get a girlfriend. Bunko, Satsuki, Yuki and I all start laughing.
"That's fine. I don't really care. Anyway, Bunko snores." Mariko says with a shrug. Bunko begins denying it.
"It's not fine when you have to share a room with him like I do. It's really annoying." Xander says.
"To be honest, snoring is the loudest thing he ever does." I say, but instantly feel guilty about it. How could I say something so mean about him, even if it is the truth?
"He is gorgeous, though, with his soft sable waves, his perfectly even tan and his steely eyes…" Mariko sighs.
"He doesn't have a tan. That's his natural skin tone. Our mother's Greek." I say. Mariko smiles.
"He's flawless and multicultural! My parents would be proud if of me, finding someone so perfect…"
"What is she on about?" Xander asks.
Bunko shakes her head, "Her parents always stressed the importance of discovering and fitting into as many different cultures as possible." Xander tilts his head to the side in confusion.
"I didn't know Yokai had parents…" Satsuki laughs at his comment.
"Most of us were human, originally. Everyone here died a painful or gruesome death, except for me." she explains.
"How come you didn't?" Xander asks.
"I was never human. I was a cat, owned and loved by the great Emperor Uda. I lived longer than most cats, and my tail grew exceptionally long, giving me more power and intelligence than other cats. Over the centuries, I became more and more humanoid and more and more powerful. I was one of the first Bake-Nekos." Satsuki says, and Xander's jaw literally drops in shock. My eyes widen and I grin.
"That is so cool. I can't believe I'm actually talking to the cat owned by Emperor Uda!" I bubble, squealing excitedly.
Yuki facepalms, "Great job, Satsuki-chan. You've triggered a fangirl attack. I hope you're proud."
"Guys… I think I broke the human…"