Chapter Twenty-Two
"Well, we're screwed." Satsuki says with an empty, mirthless laugh, staring at the paper in her hands.
"What happened, Satsuki-chan?" I ask.
"We injured their precious messenger, and they expect us to pay reparations. If we don't pay them ¥186 million in the next two weeks, they're going to start taking human hostages. Once they have twenty hostages, they're going to invade." she spits. Her tail flicks from side to side with anger. Honestly, it's scaring me slightly.
"You might want to try to get your family away from here for a while, Korin-chan, just to keep them safe." Bunko says. I shake my head.
"You really think they'd agree to going without me?" I ask.
"You're not staying here, Korin-chan. It's too dangerous," Mariko says. "You need to get Ezra out of here."
I roll my eyes, "Of course, you want me to get Ezra to safety." I say teasingly, "I'll see how much money I can scrape together. I can probably get some of my relatives to transfer some money into my bank account, and I'm sure that Ezra and Xander will give everything they have to keep you guys safe. Satoshi-kun might give some, too."
"Korin-chan, I doubt you'll be able to get enough money together in two weeks." Bunko says sadly, shaking her head.
"I can get a part-time job! When I went shopping with my mum the other week, the shop assistant told me that I could get a job there!" I say.
"There's a chance that even if we do give them the money, they'll use it to arm themselves and invade us anyway." Bunko says. I frown.
"So, should we get the money together and use it to prepare you guys for war?" I ask. "Satoshi-kun has a soft spot for Hanako, and I'm sure that the rest of his family would rather have Yokai who don't hurt humans than bloodthirsty monsters who want to eradicate humanity." Bunko shakes her head.
"I can see that whatever I say, you're not going to agree to securing your safety, Korin-chan." she says with an exasperated sigh.
"No one messes with my friends and gets away with it." I say darkly, thinking about how much I want to rip Juro's face off. Satsuki squeezes my cheeks with a teasing smile.
"Humans are so cute when they're angry, don't you think?" she teases. I poke my tongue out at her.
"Leave her alone, Satsuki-chan. She's just trying to help." Mariko says, gently shoving Satsuki. I laugh at how weird my friends are, though I'm slightly irritated by Satsuki's teasing. She's the only one of us who has never been human, and she constantly makes jokes about how cute humans are, because we're so weak compared to Yokai. She doesn't have the superior attitude of most cats, though, thankfully.
"Okay, okay. Fine. You're a great friend, Korin-chan. Like, seriously. Bruh, that's legit." Satsuki says, and we all laugh as her signature phrase makes an appearance.
"Should I start a fundraiser to help you guys get the money together?" I ask. "If we have the onmyoji on our side, we have an advantage, right?" Mariko nods.
"Yeah! Of course! If you can convince your friends to fight, we might be able to take them!" she says excitedly, her eyes glittering behind her glasses.
"They've already decided that they're going to train me." I say. "They think that I might be really strong, because I survived Kirin's earth magic." Bunko laughs.
"That's generally more of a trust thing. The more we trust you, the more likely you are to survive." she says.
"A few powerful onmyoji have survived, but most were killed within a few seconds of being exposed to it." Satsuki says. She frowns. "I remember the last one. He was awful. Had something against Yuki-Onnas, killed all but two of them. Well, of course there are more now," she stares pointedly at Bunko, "But it's not quite the same. Those few years were some of the best of my life. There were no onmyoji around, but the humans didn't want or need them. We could mix freely as friends with the villagers, and no one cared if someone was human or Yokai. There were a lot of halflings born then, because people simply didn't care about species." She smiles as she speaks.
"A halfling is a child born to a human and a Yokai." Bunko informs me.
"I kind of guessed, considering that makes them half human and half Yokai." I say. My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out and see that I have a text from Satoshi.
U w/ the Yokai? he has asked me.
I send beck Yup! Got something to ask you when I get back. After about thirty seconds, I get a text back.
Im on my way now. C u in a minute.
"Satoshi-kun is on his way here. I think he wants to talk about something." I say.
"We can ask him if he's willing to help us!" Mariko says excitedly. I nod with a grin.
After about ten minutes of waiting in anxious silence, Satoshi arrives.
"Wow," he says, "This isn't quite what I had in mind." Mariko raises her eyebrows.
"What did you have in mind?" she asks him. He shrugs.
"Most of the Yokai I've fought over the years have been the sort who would never be able to pass for humans. Apart from the Bake-Neko over there, you could all go into human civilisations and no one would be suspicious." he says. I introduce everyone to him.
"You wouldn't happen to be willing to help us with something, would you, Satoshi-san?" Satsuki asks. Satoshi frowns.
"Depends on what it is." he says.
"Your bedfellow's friends are threatening to invade," I tell him. "If these guys don't pay them ¥186 million in the next two weeks." Satoshi cringes upon hearing the word 'bedfellow'.
"It was one time, and I didn't know he was a Yokai. Shut up, Korin-chan." he says. I laugh and shove him gently. He pokes his tongue out at me.
"Guys! This is a serious matter. Regardless of what we do, people are going to die. We need to figure out what will have the least casualties." Bunko yells, her voice rising in both volume and pitch as she speaks. Satsuki brings her fingers to her mouth, preparing for Bunko to lose it.
"Yeah. Sorry, Bunko-chan." Satoshi says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She glares at him.
"I can see what Mariko-chan meant about you using honorifics too familiarly." she says.
"Sorry, Bunko-san." Satoshi corrects himself. "Most girls don't mind."
"It's because you're an attractive male." I point out. Satoshi grins at me.
"I'm glad you think so, Korin-chan." he says.
I wrinkle my nose, "You're not my type."
"Nor are you mine, as you well know." I laugh at him. He digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out a packet of chewy sweets. "Does anyone want one? I usually save them for when my brother's around, just to annoy him." Everyone sticks their hand out for a sweet.
"Why would sweets annoy your brother, Satoshi-kun?" Satsuki asks. Satoshi gives a creepy smile.
"He can't have them because of his braces." We all laugh at what a horrible brother Satoshi is.
"That's cruel, Satoshi-kun," I say, shaking my head. "Does Takeshi-kun know that that's why you always eat them around him?" Satoshi nods.
"Of course he does. He's waiting for the day when he gets his braces off so that he can have sweets and fizzy drinks again." I wrinkle up my nose.
"I will never understand why anyone would want to drink that fizzy muck. It's vile." I say. Satsuki gasps.
"How can you say such a thing, Korin-chan?" she asks. "Inconceivable!" I raise my eyebrows at her.
"Do you really like them that much?" I ask. She nods. I shudder. "They're disgusting." Satsuki's response to my comment is to bitch slap me with her tail. Satoshi starts laughing.
"This is so not how I'd imagined it." he says. "My parents always portrayed Yokai as evil little shits with no personalities and the combined sense of humour of a teaspoon. But you guys…" He lets out a bark of laughter and leans against my shoulder. "You guys are hilarious!"
"It's not that funny," I say, nursing my cheek, "That hurt."
"Hit her with your plait, Korin-chan!" Mariko says, spinning around and letting her hair cut through the air around her like a whip. "It's probably almost as strong as mine." I giggle.
"Let's try it out!" I say, staring at Satoshi with a maniacal glint in my eye.
"Oh God, no. Please, no. I'm fine with strong women and all, but don't hurt me. I know I'm just a puny little man, but please, let me live!" Satoshi jokes, grabbing hold of my plait and splitting the end in two. He holds it to his face to use it as a moustache.
"H-hold still, Satoshi-kun!" Mariko says between fits of giggles. She takes out her phone and fiddles with it for a few seconds, before there is a click and a flash as she takes a photo. "One for Snapchat." she says. Satoshi grimaces.
"You've got Ezra on there, right?" he says. I laugh as Mariko nods.
"Yeah. Why?" She sounds suspicious and her eyes narrow.
"N-no reason." Satoshi says, his voice rising about three octaves. I smile creepily and waggle my eyebrows. "Shut up, Korin-chan!" Satoshi says, dropping my hair and shoving me gently.
"I didn't say a word." I say, raising my hands.
"You inferred it." he says.
"Will someone please just tell us what's going on?" Bunko asks, looking confused. I giggle. Bunko and confusion are not two things I would have imagined going together. Mariko clicks her fingers.
"Stop trying to steal my boyfriend, Satoshi-kun." she says. I giggle.
"I ship Satoshra." I whisper. Mariko frowns.
"I don't. I ship Ezriko." she says.
"I don't ship either because I've never met Ezra!" Satsuki sings cheerfully. I laugh. "I do ship Satorin, though." she says thoughtfully. I roll my eyes.
"He's not interested in my gender and I'm not interested in his. Somehow, I don't see that working." I say with a laugh. Satoshi grins at me.
"Sounds like the sort of thing that would have happened in an arranged marriage centuries ago." he says. Satsuki nods.
"I've known a few people that's happened to." Satoshi raises his eyebrows at her.
"How old are you, exactly?" he asks.
"Let's just say I was one of the first of my kind, and when I first came here, the Kirin that everyone now worships as our leader was only a few weeks old." she says. Satoshi gapes at her, open mouthed.
"Wow. You're old." he says. Mariko slaps him gently.
"You really have no more tact than you did when you were a kid, Satoshi-kun." she says. Satoshi frowns at her.
"How do you know what I was like when I was a kid?" he asks, then claps his hand to his mouth, swearing loudly. "Mariko was your name when you were alive, too, wasn't it? You were Suzumiya Mariko. You lived next door to me. Oh my God… Is it really you, Mari-chan?" Mariko nods with a sad smile. Satoshi bursts into tears and wraps his arms around Mariko. I stare at them, stunned. Mariko is clearly surprised, too, but after a couple of seconds she smiles and hugs him back.
"Thank you, Korin-chan." Mariko says with tears of joy in her eyes. I smile at her, glad that I was able to reunite them.