Chapter 12: The Bridge Builder
As the next day finally dawned, Sōhei woke up after going to sleep alone for the first time in a long while. He hoped that Yuki would've eventually calmed down and joined him later, but he noticed that there was still an empty spot on the bed. He simply thought to himself that she probably didn't feel like doing so after what happened last night, so he figured that he'd better go and get Izumi ready for her final day of elementary school. Once Izumi was up, the two made their way into the kitchen for breakfast. Sōhei then spotted Yuki's dress still on the kitchen floor, not having been moved after her anger made her unwillingly transform fully into her wolf form last night. This caused him to worry more, so he asked Izumi to prepare breakfast while he searched around for his wife. Unfortunately, he could find no sign of her in the house, so he went outside and tried calling out to her; he heard nothing back but his own echoes. He wanted to search some more, but he didn't have the time. After finishing breakfast with Izumi, who was also now starting to worry, Sōhei had the two of them load up in the truck and head out to start off their busy day.
After Izumi was dropped off at school, Sōhei left for the city to fulfill some work orders, promising to be back for the ceremony. The school day primarily consisted of reminiscing since all final tests were done by this point. During lunch, Izumi met up with her friends, who began conversing with each other; she, however, mostly remained silent as she was still worried about her mother's current situation.
"Well, it's almost finally time!" Mayu gleefully exclaimed. "One more step to finally being on our own!"
"I don't know if everyone else is feeling the same way as you," Keiko dryly responded, noticing Izumi's lack of enthusiasm. "Isn't that right, Izi?"
Izumi remained silent and just looked down.
"Keiko, please don't push her too much," requested Hareta. "She's clearly nervous."
"What do you suggest we talk about then?" asked Mayu.
"Well, there have been some interesting local stories that I've been hearing," Hareta remarked. "Like how there have been supposed wolf sightings nearby."
"What, did one escape the zoo again?" Keiko sarcastically responded.
"No, I mean an actual living Honshū wolf," answered Hareta.
Izumi suddenly perked up a bit after hearing that, but she didn't say anything.
"Oh, did that get your interest, Izi?" Keiko asked her, noticing her reactions. "You don't actually believe those stories like he does, do you?"
"No, not really," Izumi nervously answered.
"Well, I did hear that someone got attacked by one over at the farm supply store," Hareta added.
"That witness was just a senile geezer that likes to linger around there," rebutted Keiko. "Nobody believes that guy."
Izumi silently sighed at how none of the truth seemed to be revealed after all.
"Okay, how about we change the subject then?" Mayu requested. "How about we talk about what we plan to do over spring break before starting junior high school? For example, I've been wanting to see Mt. Fuji up close for a while now, and my parents think that this would be a good time to do so before I have to move out to the dorms."
"I'm just going to help out with prepping the farm," stated Izumi.
"I've wanted to go to Shibuya myself, though my parents are still a bit nervous about wanting to take me there," Keiko told them.
"Well, my family plans to head out to Kyoto," Hareta added. "I'm excited because for years I've wanted to see the Fushimi Inari shrine."
Izumi perked up again after hearing Hareta speak a familiar name. "Inari?" she asked.
"Yeah, the Shinto kami of agriculture," replied Hareta. "Inari is known for its relation to foxes, and the shrine honors them as its messengers."
Izumi remained silent as she now knew why the fox that was her friend in early childhood was given that name.
"I want to make a pilgrimage up the mountain, and hopefully I might see one of those fox spirits myself," Hareta continued.
"Oh please!" responded Mayu in an unusual tone for her. "Don't tell me you actually believe in that yōkai nonsense!"
"Yeah, I believe that even less than the wolf sightings," Keiko scoffed along.
"Oh, you guys have no sense of wonder!" Hareta ranted. "I want to believe they actually exist. In fact, if the foxes spoke the same language as us, then the first thing I'd want to do is make friends with them."
Izumi heard what Hareta said and thought it sounded somewhat meaningful to her, but in a way she couldn't put her finger on. Before she could think about it some more, lunch came to an end and everyone continued on with what was left of the last day of school.
##
While the rest of his family was dealing with all of their own business, Ame had, unbeknownst to them, stayed over in the city along with Satsu at her residence for a night. He felt that their connection had grown stronger than ever to be alongside her for a greater period of time, though not enough to be all the way. The thing that was keeping him on edge was the growing concern for his own sister. He didn't know what exactly was causing him to feel like he was, but he just knew that it would be hard to continue his romance with Satsu if this was also happening. At this point, he finally figured that it had come time for this romance to no longer be a secret. When Satsu finally woke up, Ame came to her and said that he was finally going to introduce her to his family. He hoped that Yuki wouldn't say anything about his family's secret, nor would there be anything else that might allude to the truth over at the farm. If all went well, his relationship with Satsu would soon progress to the point where they could be a more official couple, because he felt that this is what he wanted in life now.
The two of them rode the bus to the farmlands, and upon arrival, they headed over to the family farm.
"Are you sure that they'll be welcoming to me when it's been about three years since we've been together without you telling?" Satsu asked.
Ame nervously paused for a moment, then made his reply: "I admit I'm taking a risk with this, but I want to do what I feel is right." He then noticed an odd thing with Satsu that he didn't think much about on the bus ride: she had brought her camera case with her. "Why'd you bring that along with you?" he inquired.
"Just thought I could find some more good scenery here," Satsu answered with a bit of hesitation.
Ame simply shrugged that off, still thinking that Satsu knew what she was doing.
Once they arrived at the farm, Ame noticed the truck was gone. He then remembered that Izumi was graduating elementary school today, so he figured that both she and Sōhei would be gone. He figured, somehow, that Yuki did not go with them because he could still feel her presence in the vicinity. Ame approached the front door and knocked, calling out for Yuki, but there was no response. He then began to worry more and immediately opened the door and ran in; Satsu came in behind him. Ame ran through the house, continuing to call out for Yuki; suddenly, he noticed her dress on the kitchen floor with traces of shed hair around it; Satsu noticed this as well. He suddenly began to panic but knew that he couldn't just leave Satsu in limbo like this.
"Satsu, I... I need to step outside for a moment; don't panic like I am, please." Ame told her in a scared tone.
Ame quickly rushed outside and began to call out for Yuki. He didn't want to use his wolf senses because he thought Satsu would still be watching him. As Ame continued to call out to his sister in panic, Satsu went into the living room and took notice of something: a wall that was filled with various framed photographs. They consisted of not only the ones Sōhei took of his own family but the ones that Hana took of her children way back when. None of these photos were ones that showed the family's secret; those were kept stowed away in a deeply hidden spot in the house. Satsu did notice, however, that Ame was in several of the photos; not just his present self, but as a child as well. Looking closer at the photos, Satsu was able to identify all the other people in the shots as the family members that Ame had described to her: his sister Yuki, his brother-in-law Sōhei, and his niece Izumi. There was also a single photo of a man that resembled Ame but had a noticeably different face. As she continued to stare at these photos, she began to tear up, because she now knew that Ame really was telling the truth about his entire family. Suddenly, she saw Ame come back inside, and as he approached her still in panic mode, she hung her head low.
"Satsu, I'm sorry I'm dragging you through all of this," Ame nervously apologized to her. "I don't know where my sister can be, and I'm really nervous considering how she's been recently. I have no clue why she would just vanish like this because she's...she's..."
"Because she's a wolf," Satsu suddenly said.
Ame recoiled in shock after hearing what Satsu just said. "Wait...what!?" he exclaimed.
Satsu continued to look down as she solemnly continued, "Yes, Ame, I'm afraid that I knew all along that you were the wolf that saved me from drowning. There's no point in trying to hide your family's secret from me."
Ame just stood in confusion with chills running down him as he heard all of that. "How... how did you find out?" He fearfully questioned her. "What exactly gave me away? Was it my scent?"
Satsu then looked up at him, still giving a sorrowful look. "I'm afraid it goes much deeper than that," she answered.
Ame watched as Satsu opened up her camera case and took out her camera; she then turned it on and went to view the stored photos on it.
"I haven't been that truthful with you either; photography isn't just a hobby for me, it's my job," Satsu explained as she showed Ame the camera's display screen. "I work for a magazine that covers the strange and paranormal, and I go out to find photographic proof of such things. I was told by my editor that there have been rumors of Honshū wolf sightings in this area and that I should go and find it myself. I managed to get glimpses but had no such luck getting a proper shot."
Ame continued to remain in shock as Satsu showed him the images on the camera, which included cut-off shots of his wolf self. He also noticed a label on the camera that showed it was the property of the magazine Satsu worked for.
"You are the tabloid I was warned about," he silently said in despair.
"I thought you must be some sort of sacred protector, and that the only way for me to actually get close was to try and get myself in danger," Satsu continued explaining. "You ran off before I could do anything, but I was determined to still find out. You ended up coming to me, however, and I could easily tell you were the same wolf due to resemblance; not to mention it was human hands that pulled me out of the water. I considered it extreme luck that all of that should happen to me."
Ame's face switched to one of anger, and he started to lash out at Satsu, "I can't believe I TRUSTED..."
"But I didn't say anything to my editor," Satsu suddenly cut him off.
Ame immediately stopped in surprise at that and calmed down.
"As you started to open up to me and told me about your family and how much you care for them, I realized that you were actually more human than I thought," explained Satsu. "Seeing the pictures of your family here only confirmed all of this. I now know that you aren't some mystical spirit like I initially conceived; you are an actual person with an extraordinary gift and only want to live with what you've been given. And realizing all of that about you made me realize something about myself."
"What was that?" asked Ame.
He then saw Satsu take the memory card out of her camera and snap it in two. After that, Satsu glared at her camera and then suddenly slammed it on the ground, breaking it into pieces. Ame stood in disbelief at what she just did.
"This romance had been genuine all along," Satsu finally answered. "You don't deserve to be exposed by anybody. You deserve to live your secret life the way you want it to be, and especially to have somebody by your side who will help protect that, just like your sister does. Because of that, I'm willing to give up everything I have to make that happen just for you.
Satsu then went right up to Ame and gave him a long kiss on the lips. Ame remained frozen as he took this all in, and once Satsu was finished with her kiss, he began to tear up in happiness. He now knew that since there was nothing to hide anymore, he might as well show her the truth, so he transformed into his hybrid form to prove it.
"Yes, it's true," Ame said. "I am part wolf, just like my father was. I didn't like what I was at first because I thought wolves were scary creatures, but that changed when I saw that people would mistreat me for being weird when I was in human form. Because of that, I decided to shut myself off from the human world and become the guardian of the mountain. These past years, however, I've felt like I needed to rediscover what I've been missing in life all this time, especially since setting eyes on you."
Satsu smiled as she saw him clearly as a wolf for the first time. "I didn't think that anyone would have a problem with someone as cute as you."
Ame then switched to an annoyed face. "Seriously?! Cute?!" he exclaimed. "Why does everyone think I'm cute? It was funny when my niece called me that when she was just a naive four-year-old, and Sōhei may have been right when he said I was cute as a pup, but why on earth would I be considered cute now? Why not cool, or amazing, or even majestic? Any of those are better than cute!"
Satsu lightly chuckled back: "Well, what's wrong with being all of that?" She continued to smile as she brushed her hand over the fur on Ame's face. "I certainly think you are," she stated.
Ame calmed down as he contently accepted Satsu's affection. "If only Yuki could hear that as well," he said. Suddenly, he snapped back to reality after mentioning his sister's name. "Damn! I completely forgot! I still need to find her!" With his wolf senses available in his current form, he could now detect where she was. "I know where to find her! Hopefully she's still okay!"
Satsu backed away as she saw Ame now change into his full four-legged wolf form and head outside. Just as he stepped out, he looked back at Satsu in concern.
"Don't worry about me," assured Satsu. "Your sister desperately needs you now; you should go to her. I'll wait here for you; I have nothing left to lose but you, and I know you'll be alright."
Ame smiled back at her and thanked her. He then ran toward the mountains in search of Yuki. Satsu went outside to see him run off, happy to see the one she fell in love with run freely.
##
Back at the school, the sixth graders were all told to get ready for the ceremony by gathering near the auditorium. The parents of the students have started to arrive by this point, including Sōhei, who were all mingling within the auditorium before the start. Sōhei was still unsure about what was going on with Yuki and had hoped that she would make her way here by this time, yet there was no sign of her. A person he did see that he didn't expect to attend was his own father.
"Dad? You're here?" He confusingly greeted him.
"Why are you acting all confused, son?" his father replied. "I wanted to see my own granddaughter move on up in life; is there anything wrong with that?"
Sōhei didn't know what to say to that initially before answering, "It's just that you hardly visit our family, so I wasn't expecting you."
"That's something I'd expect you to say about your mother more than me," his father rebutted, throwing shade at his ex-wife at the same time.
Unable to counter that, Sōhei decided to just go along with it. Soon, the principal announced that the ceremony would be starting soon, so all the parents took their seats, with Sōhei and his father sitting next to each other.
The ceremony began with the principal welcoming all the family members that showed up to see their children graduate. As stated before, a non-competitive talent show would be held at the start, so several students started showing their talents. Near the end of the list of performers was Izumi, and soon her time came to take the stage. The principal announced that Izumi would be performing a rendition of Ravel's Boléro on the piano. Izumi took her seat at the piano on the stage and looked out into the audience before she started playing. As she looked out, she spotted her father as well as her grandfather, which was unexpected. She saw no sign of her mother, however, and this caused her to worry more. Regardless, she started her recital as soon as she was done looking. Her performance started off fine, but as she continued to play, thoughts continued to race through her about her mother. The fact she couldn't show up, coupled with her absence at the house this morning, made her think that this was all due to the fight her parents had last night—a fight about herself.
As she tried to focus, her mother's words echoed back to her: "We've kept this a secret for too long in my eyes, and I feel like we'll never be free if people don't eventually find out."
The next voice she heard in her head was her father's, countering that, "People will only be afraid of you, or worse, try to hunt you down!"
This continued conflict in her head started affecting her performance, and she was struggling to keep tempo. She then heard her mother's voice in her head again: "It was your grandfather who wished for people to treat Japanese wolves with kindness should they ever return."
That statement was again countered by her father's voice: "There will always be those that are quick to judge."
She then heard her mother's voice once again: "I think that if we revealed it to the public before anyone else did, people would understand and accept us."
That last voice Izumi heard made complete sense, but considering what her father said, she had no idea how something like that could be possible. Losing her focus on playing, she tried focusing on different things. She decided to think about her friends, specifically Hareta and his wild imagination that he revealed to them all about wanting to visit the Inari shrine, hoping to see spiritual foxes.
Thinking about that caused her to flash back to her early childhood when she first became a wolf and befriended a fox that was also named Inari, with her mother explaining why she was able to do that: "Wolves and foxes are closely related species, so we both have the same language."
Finally, she heard Hareta's voice from earlier today: "If the foxes spoke the same language as us, then the first thing I'd want to do is make friends with them."
Hearing those voices back to back made Izumi realize why Hareta's statement resonated with her so much; it was because it seemed like the answer to how she could resolve everything. If a wolf was able to befriend a fox because they spoke the same language, then there's no reason a wolf that also speaks human language can't befriend humans. She immediately stopped playing the piano and got up away from it.
"Oh, Izumi, don't let stage fright get to you," the principal said, trying to reassure her.
"No, that's not it," rebutted Izumi. "Playing the piano isn't what I wanted to do in the first place."
"Then go ahead and do what you did want to do," replied the principal.
Izumi then made her way center stage to the microphone that was there. Sōhei started to get uneasy about this, fearing that she was about to do what he hoped she wouldn't do; however, he also didn't want to do anything rash with his own father next to him.
"Everyone, there's something I need to tell you all," Izumi nervously said in front of the audience. "My family has held a secret for decades now, and I think it's now time for it to be revealed."
Sōhei suddenly jumped out of his seat at hearing that. "IZUMI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he shouted out. "WE TALKED ABOUT THIS ALREADY!"
"Sōhei!" His father berated him, trying to pull him back down. "What on earth is this for!?"
"I told her not to do this, and she agreed with me!" Sōhei silently argued.
"You're embarrassing your own daughter, for heaven's sake!" his father countered.
"That doesn't matter!" Sōhei continued to fight against his father. "She doesn't realize the danger she's..."
"NO, DAD!" Izumi shouted out back to her father. "I have to do this! Mom's right; we can't keep this a secret forever, or else we'll never be free!"
Sōhei attempted to shout something back, but he looked at his father, who had a stern look upon him that demanded his son to sit back down. He reluctantly obeyed his father and let Izumi do what she wanted to do, remaining scared at what could possibly happen.
Izumi then continued with her speech: "Three decades ago, my grandmother Hana met a peculiar man in college. Something about him intrigued her, so she followed him around. The two eventually took a liking to each other, and when he soon trusted her enough, the man showed my grandma that he had been born with a special gift that would frighten many. My grandma, however, loved him for what he was; because of that, they became an official couple and gave birth to two children: my mother, Yuki, and my uncle, Ame. Those children would inherit the same gift as their father, and later in life, my mom would meet my father, Sōhei, who loved her for the same reasons upon finding out the truth about her. They would give birth to me, and I would inherit the same gift that my grandfather and mother had. This gift is what I plan to show you all right now. I ask you, please, for what you are about to see, do not be afraid."
Izumi took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on what she wanted to do right now. The audience before her then began to see her change shape and started to gasp, which Izumi was able to hear. Soon after, Izumi landed on all fours with her clothes flown off her body, and the audience now saw before them not a twelve-year-old girl but a wolf. Izumi still had her eyes closed; she knew she was now in wolf form, yet something felt different. She heard murmurs from the crowd saying things like how such a thing is even possible to how they were surprised that the rumors were all true.
Izumi spoke again after opening her eyes; she heard more gasps from the crowd as they heard the wolf before them speak with the same voice as the girl she just was. "Yes, my grandfather wasn't entirely human; he was also the last Honshū wolf. Because of his bloodline, my mother, my uncle, and I are also wolves. We've had to hide this secret because it's obviously something that people would be frightened of, but doing so had its consequences. My mother loved being a wolf as a little girl, but she had to suppress that side of her for years because she'd rather perfectly fit in with all the other people around her. My uncle, meanwhile, learned to live with the gift he initially hated to the point where he preferred to only live as a wolf, completely shutting himself off from the human world. I, however, didn't want to end up like either of them; I wanted to be able to live a balanced life as both a human and a wolf. The only way I see it now is to reveal the truth myself before anyone else could; that way people could slowly but surely understand all of my family. If that is able to happen, then I can say I have fulfilled my grandfather's greatest wish that the wolves of Japan would return and be accepted by everyone around them, not just for today, but for all future generations."
After finishing her speech, Izumi closed her eyes and hung her head low, unsure of what the audience's response would be. For a few seconds, there was only silence, but soon she heard a single clapping of hands that would grow exponentially. Soon, the entire auditorium was erupting with applause. Izumi opened her eyes and looked out to the crowd and couldn't help but shed tears of joy at what was happening. She saw her three friends among the cheering crowd, as well as her grandfather. Her father, however, was still just sitting in complete disbelief but was eventually coerced by his own father to join in with the applauding crowd. Izumi then looked behind her and saw the principal was even cheering for her. As she was looking in that direction, she suddenly realized why she felt different: her coat now had a dark brown mane running down her back. She happily teared up some more as she realized what had happened to her: by going against her father's demands, she had proved her independence and matured her mind; at last, she had become an adult.