Chapter 133 - A Close Brush With Destiny

After finishing my lovely dessert breakfast, Mina takes me on a guided tour through the village. 

As we walk, she's greeted by everyone:

"Morning, Mina!"

"How'd you sleep last night?"

"Want some of the magic beans I cooked for breakfast this morning?"

"Magic beans…?" I asked, turning to her.

"It's a local delicacy. Since we Kitsuna are magical beings, we can imbue the soil with our mana to grow special crops."

He gasped, amazed by the realization that magic existed in this world. Since, between all that he had seen thus far: the humble, peaceful village; a beast-race of beautiful fox girls—and now, MAGIC—it was becoming abundantly clear to him that this was far more than a simple virtual reality space for at-home schooling.

In fact, it was actually a full-fledged MMORPG world!

He was immediately full of questions:

"Wow! Does this mean you can also shoot fireballs? Or freeze the air? Can you blast lightning from your fingers, and make giant meteors fall from the sky?!"

Mina's fox ears twitched as she scratched her head, giving me an anxious look.

"Umm…sorry. We just grow magic beans."

"Seriously…!?" Hotaru groaned. 

"Our island is peaceful, so why would we need to use our magic to do any of that other stuff?" Mina said. "Besides, you haven't LIVED until you've tried my Cream of Magic Bean Soup."

"Sure, that sounds great, but…" Hotaru looked away, frowning. 

Just my luck, he thought: that I would wind up in a virtual reality online roleplaying game, where there's such a thing as magic, except it's peaceful—with no enemy orcs or goblins to even cast any cool spells on!

Mina could see he was disappointed, and seemed to be thinking of something.

"Well...there IS the Chi Hunter's Guild."

"Chi Hunter's Guild!?" Hotaru said back to her excitedly. 

"Mhm." She nodded, then continued, in an uncertain tone: "We have the Chi Hunters Guild to thank for this peace our village has enjoyed, throughout countless generations. The guild was formed to protect the first Kitsuna settlers who arrived on the island."

"What'd they need protection from?"

"Sea monsters...the wild boars and giant lizards that live on the island...pirates…"

"Sea monsters?! No way!"

"Yup! There's sea drakes, sea serpents, giant crabs, merfolk, deepcrawlers…"

"I thought you said it was peaceful!" Hotaru exclaimed, then gave a confident grin. "These hunter guys must be looking for help anywhere they can get it!"

"Well, yes, they're always looking for new recruits. But I don't know why you would want to willingly put yourself in danger like that." She lowered her head, shyly twiddling her fingers together. "Just like that other outworlder..."

"Aha!" Hotaru jumped, startling her. "So, there really was another person like me in this village, after all!"

"Uhm...someone found her lying in the jungle a few days ago. But she left the village, just as soon as she woke up, and no one's seen her since," Mina explained. "She wouldn't say exactly why she left...except that she wanted to go on an adventure."

"Earlier you said we're on an island—that means she couldn't have gone far, right?"

Mina had an annoyed look on her face.

Seeing this, Hotaru immediately backed away. Feeling self-conscious.

Did I say something stupid, just now...?

...

Mina grabbed Hotaru by the hand. 

"I don't think you know just how big this island really is!"

With just these words serving as any indication of her intent, Mina proceeded to drag Hotaru with her along a dirt trail that split off from the village, carving a way through a dense, flowery jungle. Along which the air was sweet, with the honeyed aroma of blooming flowers; and the many resident species of tropical bird constantly made their presences known, with their blaring cries and wingbeats.

"Where are we going?" Hotaru asked.

Receiving no answer, he could hear the sound of crashing waves just before it was unveiled to him: 

There, situated on a tall bluff, set against a sparkling deep blue sea, stood a lighthouse: looking like a giant, pale, middle finger held upward at the beaming sun; casting a long pillar of shadow across the two as Mina continued the rest of the way up the cliff toward it, slowly. While Hotaru stayed back, gawking in awe at the towering structure whose face was partially overgrown with tendril-like ivies, its paint chipped away in places by the buffeting sea winds.

"You're not...actually thinking of taking me inside of that ancient thing, are you?" said Hotaru, with unease.

"It's safe; don't worry," Mina reassured him, as she was already at the old grey stone doors which lead inside, pressing her hand to open one, when she paused midway and turned to him. "It's the only place where you can see the whole island. From up"—

She pointed to the top.

"There!"

Hotaru's heart sank just from looking up at it. His chest, filling with nausea.

"Uhh...I really have a fear of heights."

As Hotaru continued to look, though—he couldn't be sure, through the blinding glare of the sun that forced him to shield his eyes with one hand—but he could swear he glimpsed...the silhouette of a person, standing up there...

And then, he thought he saw them jump: off the side railing, and begin to plummet—

Mina cried, "Hotaru, look out!"

And it was enough to snap him back to his senses.

Crap! There really is someone falling!

Falling straight towards me!

In a split second, without thinking, he dove out of the way—just as the falling person landed, squarely on their feet in a stooped, crouched position; forming a slight, crater-shaped indentation in the earth beneath them.

Hotaru was coughing in the cloud of dust that had formed.

"What's your problem?"

He was really about to give them a piece of his mind, but abruptly stopped; upon realizing it was actually a fox girl that had come within a hair's width of moondropping directly on top of his head. One with a snow pale complexion, dressed in a striking black and white wave-patterned kimono. Glossy, raven black hair that trailed in silky, thin strands with the turbulent breeze; cut to ear-length, with white frosted ends, cresting both sides of her long, thin face. 

Her sharply narrowed, amber eyes shifted to look at Hotaru freezing him in his place. Quietly daring him to speak another word against her.

Mina, however, appeared to be immune to this effect, as she dauntlessly stepped forward past him with a glare and hands on her hips. Speaking with a scolding tone, "Ceres, I thought you promised you'd stop with all the crazy stunts!"

"Oh, Mina. Always the responsible one…"

The black fox smiled as she rose to her full height, inadvertently granting Hotaru a peek at her bare breast, with a dark tattoo snaking across it, poking out from under her open kimono.

"It's bad for my conscience, if I know you're worrying."

"Well!" Mina blurted, with an offended look. "Unfortunately, in this village there's always going to BE someone to worry about reckless people like you!"

"Tch. I make these jumps all the time."

"Yeah, well, accidents can happen, and you're always off someplace on your own...so..." Mina trailed off with a scowl, as it was evident Ceres was now ignoring her.

Instead, she was looking at Hotaru.

"What're you standing there gawking at, outworlder?"

Hotaru was speechless. Having just witnessed this person—a fox lady, granted—leap down from such an incredible height, and act like it was completely nothing!

"S-sorry," he said, bowing respectfully. "I was just thinking you looked really cool just now."

Ceres smirked, indicating toward the lighthouse with her eyes. "You mean that jump?—he nodded—"It was nothing; barely a scratch upon the surface of what I am capable of.'

"Really?" Hotaru blurted, but quickly calmed himself. Bowing, once more. "I mean...if possible, I would like to learn."

"You want a power like what I have?"

Mina cast her a sharp look. "Ceres. Don't you dare—"

"Shh, shh, shh"—Ceres held up a hand, bidding her to be silent, before turning back to the prostrated Hotaru with a devilish grin. "Outworlder, is it really true? Would you like to learn how to attain the powers that I possess?'

Hotaru raised his head. "Yes! I want to be able to show off!"

That way, even Noriko will admire me!

She'll see what incredible feats I can accomplish, and immediately crave my genes! So that we'll have twenty children together—all of them being fully capable of jumping down from lighthouses!

Such is the law of nature! The high demands of a competition for a top-quality mate!

"No way," Ceres said, smiling widely with her eyes closed as she gave me a pat on the head like I was some cute little cat on the side of the road. "A pathetic little weakling like YOU can never gain these powers."

Hotaru gawked, letting out a strained grunt—his heart, at once shattered, while Ceres then coldly turned and strolled away.

Once she was gone, Mina gave a sigh of relief and approached him.

"Don't mind her. A bit of a lone fox."

Hotaru still hadn't recovered.

This hole that Ceres's cruel declination had left in his heart…

Would perhaps never heal.

Alas, all my poor unborn sons and daughter!